I performed this exercise with the different states in Mexico and figured I should repeat it with Brazil. The Church does not publish membership totals for each Brazilian state, but taking the population of a state and dividing it by the number of stakes and districts produces an estimate for how large and active the Church is in the state.
Overall around one in every 183 Brazilians is a member of the Church. However, Brazil's states differ in terms of the strength and size of the Church just like everywhere else in the world. For instance, the state of Minas Gerais has over 19 million people, seven stakes and eight districts while the state of Rio Grande do Sul has almost 11 million people, a temple, 21 stakes, and nine districts.
Much missionary work is yet to be done Brazil as a whole, considering there are 440 cities with over 20,000 inhabitants without missionaries assigned to the city or a congregation of the Church. To put that into prospective, Mexico only has 60 such cities which fall under the same category. I am currently calculating how many cities the United States have with over 10,000 inhabitants without a congregation or missionaries (which is looking to be around 50).
Below is a list of different Brazilian States and the population (from 2005) per stake. Stakes are counted as one and districts as 0.5.
Amazonas
380,274
Distrito Federal
424,201
Rio Grande do Sul
425,298
Roraima
448,598
Rio Grande do Norte
500,515
Paraíba
513,698
Paraná
526,249
Ceará
578,377
Pernambuco
580,247
Alagoas
603,182
São Paulo
603,623
Rondônia
767,297
Sergipe
787,104
Espírito Santo
973,818
Santa Catarina
977,761
Rio de Janeiro
1,183,339
Amapá
1,189,598
Piauí
1,202,754
Tocantins
1,305,728
Bahia
1,535,037
Pará
1,549,019
Goiás
1,605,690
Minas Gerais
1,672,821
Mato Grosso
1,868,849
Mato Grosso do Sul
2,264,468
Maranhão
3,051,664
Hello! I'm trying to contact the author of this blog, or any author knowledgeable person. I'm a returned missionary who served in the Brazil Joao Pessoa mission back in 1998-2000, and since then I have periodically searched the web for updates on the units in my mission. Other than this site the best info I can find is the plain list of stakes in the Recife Temple district. Where can I find information on the actual units in the stakes and districts of the Joao Pessoa mission?
ReplyDeleteThe place to go where that information would be presented in the most straight forward manner would the the Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders (CDOL). Only leaders in the Church have access to this site due to confidential contact information for Church leaders around the world. You might be able to ask your priesthood leader, if he has access, for a list of the units.
ReplyDeleteIf you served in this area of the world, you will be able to get a lot of information from just using maps.lds.org since you know the geography of the area. Some exciting developments in the mission you serve in is the opening of new cities in the interior. Now Sousa and Cajazeiras both have branches. For recently created stakes, you can use the Church News site and do a search in the archives for the stake you want the units for and you will have a list of the units as constituted when the stake was first organized. As far as I know, we have not seen very many new congregations created in these new stakes in the past few years.
Good luck!