World wide in 2007 there was approximately one priest for every 2800 Catholics (1-2800). How does this vary around the globe? In the United States currently it stands around 1 – 1500. So if one thinks the priest shortage is serious in the U.S, with our aging priests and declining numbers, we are still better off than most other places including places that are sending priests to the U.S.
In Brazil, the largest Catholic country in the world, the ratio is 1- 8600. In the Philippines, with the largest Catholic population in Asia, that goes up to 1 – 9400. India, on the other hand, is the exception with a very favorable ratio of 1-860.
As many Catholics know from parishes in the U.S., many priests come to the United States from Africa. Yet the ratio in Africa is estimated to be 1 – 4200. In Nigeria, booming with priestly vocations, and with seminaries filled, the ratio is 1 – 3820. So one might ask if priests should be coming from Africa to the U.S. or should the U.S. be sending priests to Africa?
And what about Western Europe? Vocations to the priesthood have greatly diminished, but it still has a ratio about the same as the United States 1 - 1400. Italy is even stronger, with 1 - 1136 ratio.
Is there any ideal ratio of priest to laity? One major yardstick is the availability of the priest for Mass. A parish in the U.S. with a large church building can have 2000 parishioners at one Mass (and the priest may be assisted by a deacon and a chorus of lay ministers) . On the other hand, a priest in Africa may have one small church that can hold 200, but then have to travel to 20 different outstations for Masses, meaning that his parishioners can only have Mass once a month.
There have been several attempts by the Vatican, as in the encyclical of Pope Pius XII in 1957 Fidei Donum, to redistribute priests, but only with limited success. And that is another story.
(Historical Footnote: The Priest-laity ratio in the U.S. - A brief look back. -- in the United States in 1903 it was 1- 870. The best ratio was 1942 with one priest for every 617 Catholics. Since then the growth of the Catholic population has exceeded that of the priesthood. In 1962 it was 1 – 771. In 1985 it was 1 – 93. In 2000, it was 1 – 1257. Now it is about 1-1500 and getting worse.)