There are 5 rites and 22 autonomous Churches or Churches sui juris within the Eastern Catholic Church. Each autonomous Church comes under any of the rites. Roman Church (Latin) is the Western Church. The names of the 22 Eastern Churches and the approximate number of Catholics belonging to each Church (as estimated in 1997) are given below:
Eastern Churches
I. Alexandrean
1. Coptic - 167,000
2. Ethopian - 133,000
II. Antiochean
3. Syrian - 186,000
4. Maronite - 2,176,000
5. Syro-Malankara - 300,000
III. Armenian
6. Armenian - 143,000
IV. Chaldean
7. Chaldean - 628,000
8. Syro-Malabar - 3,500,000
V. Byzantine
9. Byelorussian - 30,000
10. Bulgarian - 15,000
11. Greek - 2300
12. Hungarian - 253,000
13. Italio-Albanian - 62,000
14. Melkite - 1,147,000
15. Romanian - 1,563,000
16. Ruthenian - 462,000
17. Slovak - 400,000
18. Ukranian - 4,195,000
19. Kriescevic - 49,000
20. Albanian
21. Macedonian
22. Russian
Western Church
Latin Church – 880,000,000
The Mozarabic and Gallican Churches came in the Latin tradition, but were
absorbed into the Latin Church. Now they do not have separate identity
No information is available on Albanian and Russian Catholic Churches because of the previous communist rule. Ukranian Church with more than four million faithful is the largest Eastern Catholic Church. The Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest Eastern Catholic Church with more than 3 million faithful.
Each of these individual Churches is ranked as Metropolitan Church, Major Archiepiscopal Church or Patriarchal Church. Patriarchate is a form of government, an autonomous, self-governing federation of dioceses under the jurisdiction of a chief bishop, called "patriarch" and his synod. Patriarchates have existed from ancient times. Pope, the head of the Universal Church is also the Patriarch of the Roman Church. Six of the 22 Eastern Churches are Patriarchal now. They are Alexandria of the Copts (residence in Cairo), Alexandria-Antioch-Jerusalem of the Melchites (titular, resident in Damascus), Antioch of the Maronites (Bkerke', Lebanon), Antioch of the Syrians (Beirut), Babylon of the Chaldean (Baghdad), Cilicia of the Armenian (Beirut).
The Indian Catholic Church is a composition of the Latin, the Syro-Malabar and the Syro-Malankara Churches, which keep their own identity.