The 20 countries with the highest annual membership growth rates in 2011 are listed below. Lists for nations with the most rapid membership growth rates are also available for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. The percentage next to the country name is the annual growth rate percentage which is followed by the country's LDS membership at year-end 2011. Countries in bold experienced a membership increase greater than 200. Countries in red appeared to experience a large percentage increase in membership in 2011 due to the correction of past errors in official LDS membership reporting, such as including some congregations and their respective memberships in other countries.
- Benin - 195.2% - 676
- Macau - 94.4% - 1,308
- Solomon Islands - 65.4% - 387
- Sint Maarten - 34.0% - 213
- Rwanda - 32.4% - 90
- Ethiopia - 28.9% - 1,450
- Tuvalu - 28.9% - 174
- Botswana - 27.2% - 1,693
- Malawi - 25.0% - 1,156
- Togo - 24.8% - 1,555
- Grenada - 20.0% - 276
- Northern Mariana Islands - 19.1% - 753
- Kazakhstan - 19.1% - 193
- Madagascar - 19.0% - 8,017
- Turkey - 19.0% - 293
- Uganda - 14.9% - 10,368
- Marshall Islands - 14.9% - 5,850
- Saint Lucia - 14.7% - 249
- Cameroon - 13.3% - 1,136
- Sierra Leone - 13.2% - 10,084
If countries in red were excluded from the list, additional countries rounding off the top 20 countries with the most rapid annual membership growth rates for 2011 would also include:
- Zimbabwe - 12.7% - 20,908
- Barbados - 12.7% - 826
- Democratic Republic of the Congo - 12.5% - 30,435
- Angola - 12.2% - 1,046
- Zambia - 12.2% - 2,903
Below is a list of the top ten countries by numerical increase in membership for the year 2011. 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, 2008, 2009, and 2010. 72% of 2010 LDS membership increase can be attributed to the following 10 nations.
- United States - 84,651 - 27.3%
- Mexico - 38,654 - 12.5%
- Brazil - 34,793 - 11.2%
- Philippines - 15,822 - 5.1%
- Peru - 15,249 - 4.9%
- Argentina - 10,047 - 3.2%
- Chile - 7,144 - 2.3%
- Ecuador - 6,994 - 2.3%
- Guatemala - 5,749 - 1.9%
- Honduras - 5,700 - 1.8%
I will provide further analysis on these statistics and others in the next few days.
Based on the numbers alone, it seems as though Uganda, Sierra Leone and Marshall islands could each have a stake in the works. Any reports?
ReplyDeleteMarshall Islands' stake was created in 2011. I think Sierra Leon is taking it slow, so they're not another Liberia.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Rwanda to the "open" list!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Peru for topping 500K and Nigeria for topping 100K.
Yet again, there are several countries that are in all respects public (although many are not open to missionaries), but they neglect to report statistics:
-Burundi
-Bahrain
-Bermuda
-Bonaire (with Curacao??)
-British Virgin Islands (with USVI?)
-Egypt
-Falklands
-Greenland
-Kosovo
-Lebanon
-Oman
-Qatar
-Turks & Caicos
-UAE (page but no numbers)
And what's up with all the missing numbers for states and provinces? :-(
I noticed that the country totals add up perfectly to the region totals (so secret countries are not counted), but all the countries/regions total up to 18,543 less than total membership, which sounds about right for the unreported countries:
ReplyDelete-China 10,000
-Pakistan 3,000
-Vietnam 1,000
-Everyone else 4,500
What is a good link to find individual country statistics? The earlier link seemed to just show U.S. and world totals.
ReplyDeleteI am curious if church membership in places such as Kazakhstan and Turkey are mostly US military/embassy, or if they are native Turks or Kazakhs?
ReplyDeleteMost members in Kazakhstan are Kazakh or Russian. There are very few LDS expats in Kazakhstan, at least in the Almaty branch. The Astana group has a relatively higher number, but it's a tiny group.
ReplyDeleteThank you Amira, I am glad to hear that.
ReplyDeleteUganda also has a stake. The history of both Sierre Leone and Liberia is complicated by the negative effects of war.
ReplyDeleteI met a native Turkish Church member while I was at BYU. I know at one point virtually all church members in Turkey were American expats, but with the end of the cold war there is less American military presence.
ReplyDeleteI also knew a girl who was a member from Kazakstan when I was at BYU, and that was back in 1999. She was an ethnic Russian born in Kazakstan.
Well, whoever deducated a stake on its way in Sierre Loeone was right, since the 3,000 stake was organized there. I would not be surprised to see a second stake former in Bo in the near future.
ReplyDelete