How many people have been declared Saints by the Catholic Church?

Answer:
"There are over 10,000 named saints and beati(blessed, holy people) from history, the Roman Martyrology and Orthodox sources, but there has been no definitive head count"
(http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/Cardinal-Newman/Becoming-a-Saint/What-is-a-Saint/How-Many-Saints-Are-There)


I was surprised that a more definite answer does not exist to this question. From what I've recently read, this is partly due to the fact that the list continues to grow and also confused by the fact that some Saints were martyrs who were killed with as part of a group and only the leader's name was known. There also were many people recognized as Saints simply by popular acclamation prior to the Catholic Church starting a formal process and some of these have been dropped due to lack of reliable information on their lives or at times even doubt of their existance. In the end of course, Christians are all called to be Saints. Hopefully each of us can someday increase the real number by one.