Fastest Growing Countries For the Church: 2007

Below is a list of the top 20 countries where the Church is growing the fastest (in membership) for the year of 2007. The percentage increase (calculated by finding the difference between 2007 and 2006 membership totals divided by 2006 membership) is provided along with total membership as of December 31st, 2007. Countries in bold are ones in which membership has increased by at least 200 members.

1. St. Lucia - 105.5% - 113
2. Central African Republic - 81.7% - 396
3. Benin - 35.9% - 216
4. Cameroon - 29.9% - 639
5. Togo - 27.5% - 733
6. Malaysia - 27.3% - 4,626
7. Guyana - 24.1% - 2,572
8. Suriname - 23.3% - 847
9. Georgia - 21.4% - 153
10. Solomon Islands - 17.9% - 231
11. Malawi - 17.5% - 705
12. Guadeloupe - 17.1% - 356
13. Kazakhstan - 16.8% - 125
14. French Guiana - 15.7% - 287
15. Namibia - 15.0% - 506
16. Madagascar - 13.0% - 4,160
17. Mozambique - 12.9% - 4,216
18. Armenia - 12.3% - 2,650
19. Bahamas - 12.0% - 774
20. Iceland - 11.6% - 250

A few interesting points to notice about last year's membership growth. First, in 2006 there were only 15 countries with over 11% growth and in 2007 there were 20. Second, in 2006 there were six countries (out of 15) with over 11% growth with over 1,000 members and in 2007 there were only five countries (out of 20) with 11% growth. This illustrates that the Church is growing in places it has not been well established yet at an accelerated rate. Furthermore, growth slowed slightly in some countries that experienced very high growth in 2006 (like Ghana and Zambia). Many of these countries that are not included in the list for 2007 above but were in it in 2006 have growth rates around 10%.