The Royal Commission had sought information into claims of abuse received by the Catholic Church between 1980 and 2015.
The results were revealed for the first time by counsel assisting the Commission, Gail Furness, in her opening address.
"Between January 1980 and February 2015, 4,444 people alleged incidents of child sexual abuse made to 93 Catholic Church authorities."
They relate to more than 1,000 separate Catholic institutions.
"Of the 1880 identified alleged perpetrators, 597 or 32% were religious brothers, 572 or 30% were priests, 543 or 29% were lay people, and 96 or 5% were religious sisters. Of the alleged perpetrators, 90% were male and 10% were female."
Two thirds of abuse claims examined by the Royal Commission have been in Catholic institutions.
The data reveals it was an average of 33 years between the alleged abuse occurring and the date a claim was made.
Five religious orders were found to have the highest proportion of brothers who, between 1950 and 2010, were alleged perpetrators.
Among them, more than 40 per cent of St John of God brothers were alleged perpetrators, 20 per cent of Marist brothers and 22 per cent of Christian brothers.
The chief executive of the Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, says the data represents a massive failure of the Catholic Church to protect children.
"The fact that child sex abuse has been perpetrated by those holding privileged positions within the church and the fact that many church leaders then compounded the damage in various ways including, in some cases, covering up the truth is a tragedy in itself."
Breaking down before the commission, Mr Sullivan said the statistics are shocking.
"The data tells us that over the six decades over 1950-2010, some 1265 Catholic priests and religious... (chokes up) were the subject of a child sexual abuse claim is shocking, they are tragic and they are indefensible."
At the hearing were Anthony and Christine Foster, whose daughters were victims of sexual abuse by a Melbourne priest.
Mr Foster says he knew abuse within the Catholic Church was widespread but hearing the statistics laid bare was extremely distressing.
"Sitting there, I think we were both traumatised and thinking about our own children and thinking about all of the other children who had been hurt."
Joan Katherine Isaacs, a child abuse survivor who has given evidence to the Royal Commission, was also there.
"The evidence is gut-wrenching. Even though I had some idea of the extent of the abuse, there is just so many children who have been so damaged over tens of years because of the Catholic church and ebcause of the extent of their cover ups. "
The hearing marks the beginning of the Royal Commission's 15th and final public hearing focused on the Catholic church in Australia.
It's expected to run for three weeks, examining the current policies and procedures of the church's authorities in regards to child protection and child safety standards and their response to allegations of abuse.