Countries With The Most Members Without A Stake

It's been a while since I have provided an up-to-date list of the different countries with the most members without a stake. Below is a list of the top 20 countries with the most members and as of yet do not have a stake.


1. Russia

19,946 members
15 districts
129 branches

2. Mongolia

8,444 members
2 districts
21 branches

3. Cambodia

8,359 members
4 districts
24 branches

4. Sierra Leone

8,054 members
2 districts
18 branches

5. India

7,576 members
3 districts
30 branches

6. Uganda

6,919 members
2 districts
16 branches

7. Cape Verde

6,905 members
3 districts
18 branches

8. Indonesia

6,393 members
3 districts
23 branches

9. Jamaica

5,990 members
4 districts
21 branches

10. Malaysia

5,646 members
5 districts
19 branches

11. Liberia

5,039 members
2 districts
11 branches

12. Mozambique

4,851 members
2 districts
18 branches

13. Marshall Islands

4,476 members
2 districts
11 branches

14. Guyana

3,935 members
2 districts
16 branches

15. Micronesia

3,841 members
4 districts
20 branches

16. Vanuatu

3,783 members
2 districts
24 branches

17. Belize

3,430 members
2 districts
12 branches

18. Armenia

2,748 members
2 districts
15 branches

19. Romania

2,736 members
2 districts
19 branches

20. Zambia

2,237 members
2 districts
11 branches


Here are some interesting trends. If I were to make this list four years ago, there would only be four countries with over 6,000 members on this list and now there are eight. At the end of the year 2000 only two countries had over 6,000 members without a stake: Russia and Ukraine. Why haven't these countries had stakes organized in them yet?

One of the reasons why is that inactivity and member involvement in leadership has been a problem in some. Stakes take on great responsibilities with sending out missionaries, organization and temple work and require many priesthood holders who are willing and dedicated to take upon these obligations. Of course all of these countries have such leaders and members in them, but they have not been in a large enough quantity and concentrated into a small enough geographical area for the creation of a stake as of yet.

This leads into geography. Members in Russia are scattered throughout what is the largest country in the world. Although there are areas where members are concentrated, there still has been no stake organized. Most members live in the cities of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Saratov. Other countries have a similar situation like Vanuatu and Malaysia.

Many of these 20 countries are close to having stakes organized in them soon. We have seen great growth in membership in areas where we have never had members of the Church before in the past 10 years. We had a similar situation 20 years ago where several countries had close to 10,000 members before the first stake was organized (like Ghana and Nigeria).