Global reach of the Catholic Church

The election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis, has brought the shifting demographics of the Catholic Church into focus. He becomes the first pope from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.

Many of the world’s Catholics now live in Latin America, and the Church is seeing strong growth in Africa, but most cardinals still come from Europe. This interactive graphic shows where the highest percentage of the world’s Catholics live, and profiles the new Pope.

Countries with a Catholic population under 10,000 not shown. Populations of 10,000 or more are rounded to the nearest 10,000. Figures may not tally due to rounding