The Vatican reports that over a recent ten-year period, the number of Catholics in the world increased by 1.5 percent. As of 2011, the Catholic population was just over 1.2 billion. Growth has dropped in Europe and the US but has accelerated in the developing world, particularly Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, the number of permanent deacons, men who can be married and who are allowed to perform certain duties, rose 43 percent in Europe and was also up sharply in the Americas. But the number of women in religious orders has dropped ten percent worldwide.