The Institute for Catholic Church Statistics presented data for 2020 in December. The Church’s data show that the number of unbaptized children increased more than 20-fold. The figures are presented in the table below.
| Year | Births | Baptisms | Unbaptized |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 374 800 | 372 851 | 1 949 |
| 2020 | 354 700 | 312 082 | 42 618 |
Data published by the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics also show that fewer and fewer people are receiving confirmation and entering into church marriages. The number of students attending religious education classes has also fallen. The number of students at higher diocesan seminaries decreased by 20% compared with previous years—in 2020, there were 1,619 of them.
Are the declining statistics for baptisms, confirmations and church weddings the result of COVID-related restrictions, or of Polish women and men moving toward a secular country? The answer will be provided by the coming years and further data on the sacraments.
Data source: https://www.iskk.pl/images/stories/Instytut/dokumenty/annuarium-statisticum-ecclesiae-in-polonia-dane-za-rok-2020.pdf