Church Releases Membership Totals By Nation For 2009

Membership and congregation totals for nations with an open Church presence are now available on the Church's official website and can be found at http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/statistical-information. If you click on MAP VIEW, data for membership broken down by country in a map format.

The 20 countries with the highest annual membership growth rates in 2009 are listed below. Lists for nations with the most rapid membership growth rates are also available for 2006, 2007, and 2008. The percentage next to the country name is the annual growth rate percentage which is followed by the country's Church membership at year-end 2009. Countries in bold experienced a membership increase greater than 200.

1. Rwanda - 159% - 44
2. Dominica - 43.0 % - 143
3. Togo - 30.4% - 1,034
4. Angola - 28.4% - 831
5. St. Lucia - 23.5% - 205
6. Guyana - 23.2% - 4,846
7. Solomon Islands - 21.5% - 299
8. Uganda - 18.7% - 8,216
9. The Bahamas - 17.7% - 953
10. Cameroon - 16.0% - 843
11. Slovakia - 15.8% - 161
12. Madagascar - 15.7% - 5,516
13. Guadeloupe - 15.4% - 442
14. Cyprus - 14.5% - 386
15. Malaysia - 13.4% - 6,404
16. Democratic Republic of Congo - 13.1% - 23,615
17. Ethiopia - 11.9% - 949
18. Kenya - 11.3% - 9,370
19. St. Vincent - 11.2% - 475
20. Lesotho - 11.1% - 673

Among these 20 nations, 10 are in Africa whereas five are in the Caribbean. The rapid increase in membership growth in the DR Congo is impressive (nearly 3,000) and the creation of many new congregations in tandem indicates that retention is high in this nation. A large number of these nations have had new cities open to missionary work or have had multiple new congregations organized in the past year.

Below is a list of the 10 nations which experienced the greatest increase in membership in 2009. Each country is provided with the national increase in membership and the percentage of this increase out of total Church membership increase. Lists are also available for 2007 and 2008. 74% of 2009 Church membership increase can be attributed to the following 10 nations.

1. United States - 84,866 - 26.8%
2. Brazil - 42,118 - 13.3%
3. Mexico - 39,337 - 12.4%
4. Peru - 18,463 - 5.8%
5. Philippines - 17,300 - 5.5%
6. Argentina - 8,784 - 2.8%
7. Chile - 7,171 - 2.3%
8. Honduras - 5,310 - 1.7%
9. Bolivia - 5,277 - 1.7%
10. Nigeria - 5,158 - 1.6%

Greater membership increase occurred in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Nigeria than in 2008 whereas the United States, the Philippines, and Honduras saw a decrease in raw membership increase. Guatemala and Colombia were included in the top 10 in 2008, but were ousted by nations with greater membership growth. In 2009, both these nations saw comparable membership increases to 2008 however.

There are many nations which experienced robust membership growth in 2009 that are not among the 20 fastest growing nations or the 10 nations with the largest membership increases. Mongolia, Cote d'Ivoire, South Africa, India, and Ghana are a few nations of note which saw a percentage increase in membership growth.

In the coming days I will provide statistics on congregational growth by country for 2009.