About 2 weeks ago we received vol. 2 of the Salesian Annuario for 2018. The appendix of vol. 2 always includes the Society's official stats as of Dec. 31 of the preceding year.
It appears that the numbers in this year's publication are garbled a bit. The total number of confreres (including novices) is given as 14,786, but when you add up the subtotals of novices, temporary professed, perpetually professed, and bishops, you get 14,744--which is not the only way that the numbers don't add up.
In any case, we have a rough idea of the Society's personnel. The total number is down a bit from last year--by 88 if you take the higher number of SDBs given, and by 42 more if you take the lower number.
In detail, worldwide we're reported to have 9,945 priests, 1,638 professed coadjutor brothers, 2,584 professed seminarians, 19 permanent deacons, 427 novices, and 131 bishops.
The geographical spread shows the greatest number still in Europe (5,461), but Asia is gaining (4,159). South American has 2,176 Salesians; Africa 1,715; North America and the Caribbean 934; and Australia and Oceania 326.
India, with 2,744 confreres, continues to outstrip Italy (2,028). They're followed by Spain (950), Poland (878), and Brazil (663).
I've been informed that the Catholic Almanac is no longer published. I guess we're supposed to be able to find everything online these days. I, however, haven't been able to find current stats for religious orders, and so I can't state with certainty that the SDBs remain no. 2 in numbers behind the Jesuits. (If any readers can help with current stats, let me know!)
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