The German Bishops’ Conference and the 27 dioceses and archdioceses of the Catholic Church in Germany have today published their statistics for the year 2024. The figures are preliminary and may still be subject to slight changes. Catholics in Germany account for 23.7% of the total population (19,769,237 faithful). The numbers concerning the administration of the sacraments show a slight decrease: there were 116,222 Baptisms (compared to 131,245 in 2023). There were 22,504 church weddings (27,565 in 2023). By contrast, the children who received their First Communion were slightly more than in the previous year: 152,280 (compared to 151,835 in 2023). In total, 105,041 young people across Germany received the Sacrament of Confirmation (105,942 in 2023). There have been 212,970 religious burials (226,179 in 2023). Attendance at religious services slightly increased to 6.6% (from 6.2% in 2023). Thanks to an ongoing structural overhaul of the dioceses, the number of parishes has fallen to 9,291 (from 9,418 in 2023). There have been 29 priestly ordinations throughout the country.