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Complaints are frequent with regard to the paucity and poverty of social statistics in Latin America. The same occurs in the case of religious statistics, particularly during recent years when the need for statistics has been most urgently felt by religious leaders and thinkers. Several valuable attempts have been made to remedy these deficiencies. The statistics offered here are based on the Pontifical Yearbook and refer to the years 1945 to 1965 considered in five-year periods. In spite of their obvious limitations they at least serve to indicate the existence and direction of general trends: 1. The total increases of ecclesiastical personnel and jurisdictions of various kinds are very great, but given the rapid increase in population, it appears that during the 1945-1965 period the number of parishioners per diocesan priest has constantly increased. 2. The number of inhabitants per religious, both male and female, went down until 1960, in which year there was a slight increase. 3. The basic ratio of inhabitants per priest, both religious and secular, has remained round the 5,600 to one mark, although there was a slight decrease until 1960 and thereafter a slight increase. 4. In the large urban centres overall figures suggest that the present characteristics of their religious structures are being accentuated. 5. Finally, assessments made from an optimistic point of view suggest that by 1970 there will be a need for 1,000 more secular priests and another thousand religious priests in Latin America, if the present (i.e. 1965) ratio is to be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]