Worldwide growth for Catholics… will soon be one fifth of world’s population – Christian Today March 10, 2016 by Fulcrum Collated by the Vatican's Central Office of Church Statistics, the figures show an increase in the number of Catholics from 1,115 million to 1,272 million between 2005 and 2014. Roman Catholics now account for 17.8 of the world's population, an increase of .5 per cent on the previous figure. Mrark Woods. Christian Today. 10 March 2016 FulcrumShareTweetShare