The Archbishop of Canterbury has apologised over comments he recently made about the role of women priests, as new research claims that they will "save the Church from sinking" in the future.

According to an analysis conducted by the University of Manchester, almost half of all priests to have been ordained in recent years have been women and with almost a quarter of male priests currently over the age of 60, researchers claim that without women, church pulpits would become "depopulated".

The publication of the research, which was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, follows a recent interview in which the Archbishop of Canterbury appeared to question the extent to which women priests had changed the Church of England.

Previously while stressing that he believed the Church had been right to allow women to be ordained, Dr Rowan Williams told the Catholic Herald newspaper: "I don't think it has transformed or renewed the Church of England in spectacular ways. Equally, I don't think it has corrupted or ruined the Church of England in spectacular ways."

Dr Williams told BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme that he had failed to express his comments clearly.

The research, based on data supplied by the Church of England and last year's census of English churches, also found that women priests, who were first ordained in 1994, tended to be appointed to lesser positions than their male counterparts.

Dr David Voas, a senior social sciences researcher at the University of Manchester, said the trend was unsurprising, referring to a "shatterproof" glass ceiling within the Church which meant that women were "far more likely to be 'second class' clergy".

According to Dr Voas, most of the men who became priests in 2005 went into a paid, "stipendiary" ministry, while most of the women who were ordained went on to serve in voluntary posts as "non-stipendiary or ordained local ministers".

He claimed that the Church of England was not alone in failing to give women significant roles, claiming that over half of women ministers across all denominations served within rural areas, with "very few" females given the opportunity to conduct their work within "flagship" city centre churches.

The criticism reflects the finding of the 2005 England church census, which found that no women were leading the largest category of churches in the country - those with a congregation of 300 or more at a typical Sunday service.

"The larger the church, the more likely it is that a man will be put in charge," said Dr Voas.

"Women are left with the dregs. Their congregations are often small, rural, old or liberal: the kind of churches that need nursing care," he added.

It is thought that women currently account for 2,000 of the 12,000 priests in the Church of England.