The global population was estimated to have reached 7.3 billion as of last year, growing by 17.3 percent over the past decade. If you think this is already a huge number, wait until you've heard about the Roman Catholic Church's growth.

The number of Catholics around the world increased to 1.27 billion in 2014 from 1.12 billion in 2005, or a growth rate of 17.8 percent, outpacing global population growth.

This is according to the 2016 Pontifical Yearbook and the 2014 Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae—two publications released by the Vatican last week.

These volumes, which will be available to the public within the next few days, were compiled by the Central Office of Church Statistics and edited by the Vatican Typography, according to The Catholic News Agency

In a statement released last March 5, the Vatican said the Roman Catholic Church's growth was most pronounced in the African region at 41 percent, amid an overall population growth of 23.8 percent.

Asia is also proving to be a bright spot for the Roman Catholic Church, where the number of its faithful grew by 20 percent, compared to the 9.6 percent population increase in the continent.

In America, the number of Roman Catholics rose by 11.7 percent, compared to the 9.6 percent growth in the total population.

According to Vatican figures, the number of Catholics outpaced population growth by 2 percent in Europe. The only area where the Church's growth was slightly lower compared to overall population growth was in Oceania.

To go with its growth figures which appeared rosy overall, the Roman Catholic Church also saw an increase in the number of individuals promoting the faith over the last 10 years.

The number of seminarians who want to be priests, for instance, increased from 114,439 in 2005 to 116,939 in 2014, peaking in 2011 at 120,616.