Society of the Divine Word at a Glance
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Countries Where Divine Word Missionaries Work
1. Angola 13. China 25. Hungary 37. Nicaragua 49. Slovakia
2. Argentina 14. Croatia 26. India 38. Netherlands 50. Switcherland
3. Australia 15. Colombia 27. Indonesia 39. New Zealand 51. Togo
4. Austria 16. Cuba 28. Ireland 40. Panama 52. Taiwan
5. Belgium 17. Czeck Republic 29. Italy 41. Papua New Guinea 53. Ukraine
6. Benin 18. Ecuador 30. Japan 42. Paraguay 54. Uruguay
7. Bolivia 19. England 31. Kenya 43. Philippines 55. U.S.A.
8. Botswana 20. Ghana 32. Korea 44. Poland 56. Vietnam
9. Brazil 21. Hong Kong 33. Madagascar 45. Portugal 57. West Indies
10. Byelorussia 22. Spain 34. Mexico 46. R.D. du Congo 58. Yogoslavia
11. Canada 23. France 35. Moldova 47. Romania 59. Zambia
12. Chile 24. Germany 36. Mozambique 48. Russia 60. Zimbabwe
Brief Statistical Profile of the Society

Mark Twain, an American humorist, was once quoted as saying, “There are three kinds of lies: small lies, damnable lies… and statistics.” While it is true that statistical measures can sometimes mislead, it is hoped that the brief statistical profile of the Society presented here give an accurate overall view of the Society’s membership.

The accompanying chart gathers together the data presented from all the SVD zones in the world and additionally provides an overall summary for the entire Society.
An overall view of the Society’s Membership
Category
World Total
AFRAM (Africa)
ASPAC (Assia)
EUROPE
PANAM (America)
Bishops
46
3
26
3
14
Clerics
3784
321
1563
886
1014
Brothers
670
57
243
251
119
Temporary Vows
1112
95
710
171
136
Novices
417
26
341
13
36
Total
6029
502
2884
1324
1319
Average Age (%)
47.70
41.41
41.82
57.87
52.74
Foreign Born (%)
26.14
62.35
14.04
12.16
52.84
Nationalities Present
67
37
42
40
55
A Growing Society – Growing Younger!
The Society has been experiencing a time of rapid growth. In fact, the increasing number of young confreres is such that the average age of the Society is dropping. We are growing younger, fast! This is the opposite of the trend in virtually all other religious congregations and of most dioceses.
SVD growth
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
Total Members
5987
5961
6004
6070
6029
Temporary Vows & Novices
1576
1515
1529
1590
1529
Average Age
47.50
50.60
49.41
48.33
47.70
Formation
By far the largest number of students is being trained in the Asia Pacific Zone. But the other zones also have a steady or increasing number of young confreres in formation. The accompanying chart shows the number of confreres in initial formation in each zone – both novices and those in temporary vows.
Initial Formation
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
AFRAM
140
135
115
111
121
ASPAC
1041
1018
1047
1098
1052
EUROPA
190
177
178
196
184
PANAM
205
185
189
185
172
Recruitment
While the Society has been blessed with tremendous success in attracting new members in Asia, recruitment in the other zones has also been holding steady or rising slightly. While many students have part of their initial formation outside of their “home” zone, novices are almost always trained in the place where they have been recruited. Thus, the number of novices is the best available indicator to show where new members are being recruited.

A caution, the comparison of numbers of novices among the zones can be misleading because some provinces, particularly in ASPAC and EUROPA, have novitiate before philosophy or university studies. As a result their total numbers are much higher than those areas where novitiate is placed after philosophy and/or university. Also, several provinces, notably those in Indonesia and Poland, operate two year novitiates.
Novices
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
AFRAM
33
28
21
19
26
ASPAC
361
269
300
367
341
EUROPA
42
23
35
31
13
PANAM
33
27
37
30
36
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