See below for a list of countries/territories ranked by the percentage of Church-reported membership in the general population. Church membership figures have come from year-end 2022 membership figures reported by the Church that were accessed here. Population figures by country/territory were obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations which can be found here. I do not have any estimated membership figures in these data presented below, as I chose to include only official Church-reported figures in this table. Estimated membership figures for un-reported countries by the Church will be posted later on this blog by world region. Furthermore, there may be some noticeable differences compared to figures posted in 2021 because I have switched to using FAO estimates rather than the CIA World Factbook estimates due to wide variability in the latter estimated population figures from year to year (also the FAO statistics permit searching by prior year/future year which is very helpful to determine growth rates over time). Finally, it is important to note that Church membership figures do not take into account the activity status or self-affiliation of members on Church records. Worldwide, approximately 30% of Church membership regularly attends church services.
|
Country |
PERCENT LATTER-DAY SAINTS |
ONE LATTER-DAY SAINT PER |
|
Tonga |
64.20% |
2 |
|
Samoa |
39.43% |
3 |
|
American Samoa |
37.12% |
3 |
|
Kiribati |
16.92% |
6 |
|
Marshall Islands |
16.44% |
6 |
|
Niue |
16.39% |
6 |
|
Cook Islands |
10.95% |
9 |
|
French Polynesia |
9.60% |
10 |
|
Micronesia |
5.23% |
19 |
|
Vanuatu |
3.46% |
29 |
|
Uruguay |
3.12% |
32 |
|
Chile |
3.08% |
32 |
|
Tuvalu |
3.04% |
33 |
|
Palau |
3.01% |
33 |
|
Cape Verde |
2.83% |
35 |
|
Fiji |
2.52% |
40 |
|
New Zealand |
2.26% |
44 |
|
El Salvador |
2.04% |
49 |
|
United States |
2.01% |
50 |
|
Peru |
1.85% |
54 |
|
Northern Mariana Islands |
1.83% |
55 |
|
Bolivia |
1.81% |
55 |
|
Honduras |
1.77% |
56 |
|
Guatemala |
1.61% |
62 |
|
Guam |
1.48% |
67 |
|
Nicaragua |
1.46% |
69 |
|
Ecuador |
1.45% |
69 |
|
Paraguay |
1.45% |
69 |
|
Panama |
1.38% |
72 |
|
Belize |
1.37% |
73 |
|
Dominican Republic |
1.31% |
76 |
|
Mexico |
1.18% |
85 |
|
Nauru |
1.05% |
95 |
|
Argentina |
1.04% |
96 |
|
Costa Rica |
1.03% |
97 |
|
New Caledonia |
0.86% |
116 |
|
Guyana |
0.82% |
122 |
|
Philippines |
0.74% |
135 |
|
Puerto Rico |
0.71% |
140 |
|
St. Vincent |
0.70% |
143 |
|
Brazil |
0.68% |
146 |
|
St. Maarten |
0.66% |
151 |
|
Venezuela |
0.62% |
161 |
|
U.S. Virgin Islands |
0.62% |
161 |
|
Australia |
0.59% |
168 |
|
Aruba |
0.59% |
170 |
|
Canada |
0.52% |
191 |
|
St. Kitts and Nevis |
0.46% |
218 |
|
Portugal |
0.46% |
219 |
|
Colombia |
0.41% |
242 |
|
Barbados |
0.41% |
242 |
|
Liberia |
0.38% |
261 |
|
Mongolia |
0.37% |
272 |
|
Papua New Guinea |
0.36% |
277 |
|
Sierra Leone |
0.34% |
298 |
|
Cayman Islands |
0.33% |
299 |
|
Isle of Man |
0.33% |
301 |
|
Hong Kong |
0.33% |
304 |
|
Grenada |
0.31% |
318 |
|
Antigua and Barbuda |
0.31% |
328 |
|
Ghana |
0.30% |
328 |
|
Curacao |
0.30% |
328 |
|
Suriname |
0.29% |
344 |
|
United Kingdom |
0.28% |
361 |
|
Jersey |
0.27% |
364 |
|
Bahamas |
0.26% |
381 |
|
Taiwan |
0.26% |
384 |
|
Jamaica |
0.24% |
415 |
|
Zimbabwe |
0.23% |
426 |
|
Trinidad and Tobago |
0.23% |
440 |
|
Haiti |
0.22% |
454 |
|
Dominica |
0.22% |
455 |
|
St. Lucia |
0.22% |
459 |
|
Cote d'Ivoire |
0.21% |
468 |
|
Macau |
0.21% |
477 |
|
Congo, Republic of |
0.19% |
520 |
|
Solomon Islands |
0.19% |
527 |
|
Eswatini |
0.18% |
547 |
|
South Korea |
0.17% |
585 |
|
French Guiana |
0.16% |
609 |
|
Botswana |
0.15% |
653 |
|
Guadeloupe |
0.14% |
720 |
|
Spain |
0.13% |
749 |
|
Armenia |
0.13% |
784 |
|
South Africa |
0.12% |
847 |
|
Albania |
0.12% |
858 |
|
Switzerland |
0.11% |
950 |
|
Japan |
0.11% |
952 |
|
DR Congo |
0.10% |
963 |
|
Iceland |
0.10% |
976 |
|
Nigeria |
0.10% |
988 |
|
Cambodia |
0.10% |
1,028 |
|
Sweden |
0.09% |
1,107 |
|
Guernsey |
0.09% |
1,127 |
|
Finland |
0.09% |
1,148 |
|
Estonia |
0.09% |
1,157 |
|
Reunion |
0.09% |
1,165 |
|
Norway |
0.08% |
1,206 |
|
Luxembourg |
0.08% |
1,231 |
|
Ireland |
0.08% |
1,262 |
|
Denmark |
0.07% |
1,343 |
|
Togo |
0.07% |
1,361 |
|
Martinique |
0.07% |
1,424 |
|
Latvia |
0.07% |
1,454 |
|
Lesotho |
0.06% |
1,564 |
|
France |
0.06% |
1,673 |
|
Belgium |
0.06% |
1,766 |
|
Mozambique |
0.06% |
1,788 |
|
Singapore |
0.06% |
1,810 |
|
Hungary |
0.05% |
1,895 |
|
Austria |
0.05% |
1,911 |
|
Netherlands |
0.05% |
1,912 |
|
Madagascar |
0.05% |
2,063 |
|
Germany |
0.05% |
2,097 |
|
Italy |
0.05% |
2,109 |
|
Cyprus |
0.05% |
2,143 |
|
Malta |
0.05% |
2,186 |
|
Uganda |
0.04% |
2,283 |
|
Mauritius |
0.04% |
2,296 |
|
Namibia |
0.04% |
2,313 |
|
Benin |
0.04% |
2,382 |
|
Bulgaria |
0.04% |
2,828 |
|
Lithuania |
0.03% |
2,916 |
|
Thailand |
0.03% |
3,057 |
|
Kenya |
0.03% |
3,098 |
|
Malaysia |
0.03% |
3,134 |
|
Zambia |
0.03% |
3,768 |
|
Ukraine |
0.03% |
3,838 |
|
Czech Republic |
0.03% |
3,970 |
|
Slovenia |
0.02% |
4,764 |
|
Malawi |
0.02% |
5,270 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
0.02% |
5,593 |
|
Bahrain |
0.02% |
5,842 |
|
Croatia |
0.02% |
6,367 |
|
Romania |
0.02% |
6,379 |
|
Moldova |
0.01% |
7,193 |
|
Angola |
0.01% |
7,477 |
|
Cameroon |
0.01% |
10,259 |
|
Burundi |
0.01% |
10,395 |
|
Kuwait |
0.01% |
11,384 |
|
Rwanda |
0.01% |
11,938 |
|
Greece |
0.01% |
13,014 |
|
Sri Lanka |
0.01% |
13,136 |
|
Georgia |
0.01% |
14,859 |
|
Poland |
0.01% |
18,250 |
|
Slovakia |
0.01% |
18,503 |
|
Serbia |
0.01% |
19,570 |
|
Montenegro |
0.01% |
19,596 |
|
Central African Republic |
0.00% |
20,663 |
|
Tanzania |
0.00% |
21,840 |
|
Israel |
0.00% |
26,741 |
|
Russia |
0.00% |
28,972 |
|
Indonesia |
0.00% |
36,023 |
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
0.00% |
46,863 |
|
Ethiopia |
0.00% |
59,460 |
|
Kazakhstan |
0.00% |
84,707 |
|
India |
0.00% |
94,724 |
|
Turkey |
0.00% |
129,698 |
27 comments:
I've been wondering about worldwide activity rates for a while. Where does that 30% approximation come from?
Religlang - This estimate comes from painstakingly calculating the member activity rate for each country to ascertain the number of active members per country, then summing these products to get the number of active members worldwide, and then dividing this by total Church membership.
30% seems to high in major areas of Brazil.
For a full list of statistics for 2022 membership including percent members, membership growth, congregational information... see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membership_statistics_of_the_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints
It's got it all calculated out.
Activity rates aren't included in theses stats. The church doesn't publish activity rates to my knowledge. Any known estimates tend to come from firsthand accounts and third party sources.
Activity rates also has more fluctuation than membership numbers. For example, a member can go less active for 10 years, then become active again... whereas they're always a member and counted in the stats until they request removal of their records or die. Also,congregations (even isolated congregations) can fluctuate week to week. While most attending do so weekly, attendance can go up during baby blessings, primary program,... or go down due to change in meeting times to a lesser desired time slot, etc.
There are a few countries that have census information stating what church/religion they belong to. This can still be difficult to determine as methodologies can be different between each census survey. For example, an active member can state they're just Christin on a census survey or not answer the question at all, and consequently not shown in stats as belonging to the church.
Great work, Matt! Thanks. Also, I want to thank you for updating the current and soon to be organized and disorganized Stakes list on the side.
It's nice to see the newly organized yesterday "Lewiston Utah Stake" split from the "Richmond Utah Stake". That I have now added to the future Smithfield Temple District on my list.
Also that the "Mutare Zimbabwe District (296872)" that was originally organized March 19th, 2000, is planned to become a Stake on October 22nd, according to your update.
We are sad also that the "Salt Lake Hunter South Stake (517593) that was organized June 9th, 1985, has been recently consolidated.
Brazil member activity rate is approximately 20%.
Seeing Brazil is a traditionally Catholic country, is this because of a tradition for some to attend on certain occasions and not most of the year?
Or specifically, is sacrament meeting attendance used to determine activity rate? I'm just wondering how the occasional attendees are counted. Is four individuals attending once per month considered one active person or four?
It's great to see Mutare Zimbabwe District preparing for a stake. There will be two more in Zimbabwe one in Harare and one in Bulawayo. I am from Bulawayo and we are preparing the creation of a third stake as we speak, which we hope will be before the end of the year.
With opposition for some temples, including the the one announced for Cody, Wyoming, what percent of temples are actually in residential areas? Also does anybody know how much temples tend to impact traffic where they are built?
Yes, some like that...
Yes, some like that...
It was interesting that Takashi Wada noted that 2000 Japanese and American members worship throughout Okinawa every Sunday. The temple fact sheet notes that the Japanese Stake and English Military District have 5,500 members. So you can estimate a 36% activity rate in Okinawa.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/public-invited-to-tour-the-okinawa-japan-temple
According to Rick's temple site, the Salta Argentina temple has just completed construction. That makes 5 temples awaiting dedication announcements (the others are Red Cliffs Utah, Layton Utah, Taylorsville Utah, and Puebla Mexico). There are quite a few more in the final stages of construction. Hopefully we'll get some dates soon!
I dont know if it has changed but my mission president was given the stat in 2019-2020 that world wide the church activity rate was 1/3 (meaning that if you cut total church membership to a third, that is how many people were at sacrament meeting that Sunday). In the Balkan nations, (for this purpose the Adriatic North Mission) this rate fell to 1/6
The new "Lewiston Utah Stake" has been updated today on the Meetinghouse locator map.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2237253
I had the opportunity to volunteer at the St. George Temple Open House this past Thursday. During the opening training meeting we were told that they were getting about 10,000 visitors a day during the week with many more planned for the weekends. The Church did an incredible job on resorting this temple. Many people commented that some of the sealing rooms looked like celestial rooms.
Is there a definition for "regularly attends church services" ? Once a week, or once a month?
I do not think it is easy to answer how many temples are in "residential areas". The question is not well framed.
I am reminded of a mosque being built in the city I grew up in, Sterling Heights, Michigan. Some said they opposed it because it was in a "residential area". It is on a main road. Yes the immediate closest properties are residential, but there are small medical offices on the same street fairly close, and there are huge amounts of traffic.
The placement of religious buildings has historically been in residential buildings. If you place them in areas zoned for commercial and business use people will complain about preventing revues generating businesses from locating on that spot.
In general temples have negligent impacts on traffic. This is partially a function of size. A temple that is under 10,000 square feet will have 1 ordinance room that can maybe seat 40 people. It will rarely come close to filling to capacity.
The temple I know the best has no impact on traffic. That is Detroit. It is on a wide highway with 4 lanes of traffic going each way.
I am wondering of they will announce any information related to temple Groundbreakings, dedications, or other specifics related to temples beyond the announcements of new temples at general conference.
Religlang, just by way of clarification, the Red Cliffs Utah Temple is fully completed, with nothing left to be done but open and dedicate it. I don't know either way whether or not furniture and furnishings have been placed in Puebla or if any finishing touches the Church usually handles have been completed there.
The Layton temple has been furnished, but my understanding is that the finishing touches may be pending. Taylorsville is receiving furniture and furnishings, but there may be other work left to do above and beyond those finishing touches. And Salta hasn't received furniture and furnishings, and I haven't heard whether a temple president and matron and open house coordinators have been called for Salta, which is also still awaiting furniture and furnishings and the finishing touches.
So in the near term, I'd expect only Red Cliffs and Puebla to potentially have opening arrangements set.atet in October, November and into December is when we'd probably hear about any other temples you and I both mentioned. Hope that's helpful.
Thank you for providing those details, James!
Kimberley in San Diego - I would say that statistic includes those who usually attend at least once a month.
No problem. Also, on the Red Cliffs Utah Temple, it's my understanding that the Church doesn't want to detract focus from the St. George open house. As a result, the open house for Red Cliffs likely won't take place until the open house for St. George concludes in November. I don't know what that means in terms of how soon the opening arrangements are announced, but thought it was worth noting as well.
A couple of years ago (during COVID), the Church made back-to-back temple announcements on the Thursday and Friday before General Conference in October. I see that as a more likely scenario than mentioning dedications, groundbreakings, etc over the pulpit. That being said, I'd not be shocked if something about the previously announced renovation for the Logan Utah Temple was noted over the pulpit.
Some of the statistics given though are "nber of people in attendance in Church each week". That figure will be lower than the number of people who come at least once a month. In my branch at least, we have many people who on average show up only about every other week.
In my experience the number most co sisterly taken is the number of people in sacrament meeting. Since this is a count without names, you cannot extrapolate from it how many total people have come to sacrament meeting in a month. Beyond that, some do not stay for other meetings and actually taking attendance for those meetings is highly irregular. So I am not convinced there are truly reliable statistics beyond the number of people in sacrament meeting each week.
Also, this just in from the Church Temples site: an update on the Urdaneta Philippines Temple.
As a result, it was moved ahead of even the Salta Argentina Temple. Given that both a president and matron and open house coordinators have been called for Urdaneta, it makes the prospect of timing interesting to consider.
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