Wednesday, April 6, 2022

UPDATED: The 10 Countries with the Most Members without a Temple Announced, Under Construction, or in Operation - April 2022

I have updated the list of the countries with the most members without a temple using year-end 2021 membership totals. Temples that service stakes, districts, and mission branches in each country are identified. Previous lists are also available for March 2022, November 2020, April 2020, April 2019, October 2018, April 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, mid-2011, late 2008, and late 2007. Countries in Italics do not have a stake. The Republic of the Congo was removed from this list given the announcement of the Brazzaville Republic of the Congo Temple on April 3rd, 2022. Togo has since ascended to the list to replace the Republic of the Congo.


1. Uganda

  • 18,995 members
  • 3 stakes, 3 districts
  • 37 congregations (18 wards, 19 branches)
  • Johannesburg South Africa Temple (Nairobi Kenya Temple under construction)
2. Mongolia
  • 12,301 members
  • 2 stakes, 1 district
  • 23 congregations (12 wards, 11 branches)
  • Hong Kong China Temple (Shanghai China Temple announced)
3. Malaysia
  • 10,719 members
  • 0 stakes, 5 districts
  • 28 congregations (28 branches)
  • Hong Kong China Temple (Singapore Republic of Singapore Temple announced)
4. Indonesia
  • 7,564 members
  • 2 stakes, 1 district
  • 24 congregations (16 wards, 8 branches)
  • Hong Kong China Temple (Singapore Republic of Singapore Temple announced)

5. Marshall Islands

  • 6,977 members
  • 2 stakes
  • 13 congregations (12 wards, 1 branch)
  • Suva Fiji Temple (Tarawa Kiribati Temple announced)

6.  Jamaica

  • 6,718 members
  • 1 stake, 1 district
  • 18 congregations (6 wards, 12 branches)
  • Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple

7.  Guyana

  • 6,417 members
  • 0 stakes, 2 districts
  • 11 congregations (11 branches)
  • Caracas Venezuela Temple

8.  Federated States of Micronesia

  • 6,107 members
  • 1 stake, 2 districts
  • 22 congregations (5 wards, 17 branches)
  • Cebu City Philippines Temple (Yigo Guam Temple scheduled for dedication)

9.  Togo

  • 5,997 members
  • 2 stakes
  • 22 congregations (15 wards, 8 branches)
  • Ghana Accra Temple

 10.  Belize

  • 5,519 members
  • 2 districts
  • 12 congregations (12 branches)
  • Guatemala City Guatemala Temple (Coban Guatemala Temple announced)

31 comments:

  1. One other type of listing may be valuable too, large cities in large countries with members that do not now have a temple.

    In the US, two were taken off a prospective list this time around, Austin and Tampa, a list today would have Charlotte near or at the top.

    This would have to be done by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), consider number of stakes/members, stakes nearby, and closeness to other temples. That may be one of the things that they are considering as to the timing of announcements, but that is not all, and we otherwise do not know the others as far as any statistics kept. The only really visible one is if a temple is nearing capacity, when that hits 80% that is when they start to consider another one in a given region.

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  2. I realize that doing this by MSA would be far more scientific, but I sort of do it by cities in the USA that have Major League sports teams (NFL, NBA, MLB & NHL) and looking at that are at *least* an hour away from any temple (and yes, I know by those standards Richmond wouldn't get one)

    By those standards, the cities that are missing are: (I may be missing a few) and I'm assuming everything Denver and west is covered)
    1) Milwaukee/Green Bay (2 hours?) from Chicago.
    2) Cincinnati (Columbus and Louisville within 2 hours)
    3) Baltimore (An hour each way from DC and Philly)
    4) Charlotte (I think all of the pro sports teams in North Carolina are within 2 hours)
    5) Jacksonville (about 2.5 hours from Orlando, 2.75 to Tallahassee)

    Note, I'm counting Baton Rouge for New Orleans.

    So by those standards, I expect Jacksonville and/or somewhere in Wisconsin within the next couple of years.

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    1. A Baltimore temple could serve 4 stakes, Annapolis, Baltimore, Columbia and Frederick.

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    2. @Randolph Finder

      As a sports fan myself (mostly basketball), I like the way you think! :)

      I'm glad Lebron and the Cavs now have a temple close by in Cleveland. Hopefully, visitors who come from afar to see the games will be interested and inspired by it (depending, of course on where they put it).

      For the sake of guessing (for those more familiar with that area than myself), what are some possible sites? Akron, Canton, maybe closer to Kirtland (aöl depending on if it ends up in the suburbs)?

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  3. https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-announces-2022-area-leadership-assignments

    New missions in Europe.

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  4. https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-04-07/2-new-missions-england-england-bristol-spain-madrid-presidents-249856

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  5. Recently reorganized the "Mbaise Nigeria District - 1331388", in the Nigeria Owerri Mission, as the new "Mbaise Nigeria Stake - 1331388"

    "Stakes Reorganized from Districts

    1 Apr 07, 2022 Mbaise Nigeria Stake"

    https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=5.352415,7.27769&z=11&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=Mbaise%20Nigeria%20Stake&find=stake:1331388

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  6. Very interesting, I would be surprised if Uganda doesn't have a temple announced in the next couple conferences

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  7. The largest metro area in the US without an announced temple is now Baltimore, followed by Charlotte.

    I know Baltimore is a dark horse, but I think it has some great pluses for it. Baltimore's mix of inner city and student populations mean reaching the DC Temple is actually for some quite a challenge.

    I am very excited about the two new missions in Spain and England. I think Bristol coming back is especially awesome.

    The new area presidency assignments are quite interesting. Elder Dube takes over the lead of the Africa South Area. His counselors are Elder Aidukaitis and Elder Silva both Brazilians. Elder Silva was Angola Luanda Mission President.

    Elder Golden who was the area president of the Africa South Area turns 70 before next conference and sees likely to be emeritized. Elder Sitati, who was president of the Africa Central Area is also turning 70 before next conference and likely to be emeritized.

    Mbaise is a little north of Owerri. That stake may increase the likelihood of an Enugu Temple.

    The new Europe North Area appears to include Portugal and Cape Verde, but not Spain. The three Europe Areas have borders I am not quite envisioning.

    Elder Sikahema is now in the presidency of the North America Northeast Area. He may be our first Area presidency member who was a resident of the area since Elder Gong was our area president when he was in the presidency of the 70.

    Elder Wong is North America Central Area Presidency. Elder Cordon a Guatemalan who was LA mission president while a general authority seventy is in the North America West Area Presidency. Elder Martinez will be in the Utah area presidency. He is Puerto Rican.

    The oddest configuration is Ukraine and Moldova being under the Europe North Area. Europe North Area President in Hans Boom, a Dutchman. The area is the British Isles, Scandinavia, Estonia (which in some ways may almost be an extension of Scandinavia), Portugal, Cape Verde and special status for Moldova and Ukraine. The Europe Central Area takes Armenia and Turkey and a few other places from the old Europe East Area. It continues with Masimo de Feo as its head.

    The new Europe East Area is Russia, Belarus and central Asia. Except only Kazakstan and Kygistan. Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are in the Europe Cental Area.

    The Europe East Area is lead by 3 area seventies.

    The Europe area has an Italian president, who I believe was the first stake president in Rome, a German 1st counselor and an Argentine 2nd counselor.

    In Europe North the 2nd counselor, an area seventy, Elder Philips, is from London.

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    1. Elder Sikahema was not the first since Elder Gong to have previously resided in an area of which he had oversight. I had thought that honor went to Elder Matthew S. Holland, who presided over the North Carolina Raleigh Mission before now serving in the North America Southeast Area Presidency, but it appears that several current GA Seventies who have served as mission presidents have been assigned to serve in the presidencies of areas that cover their mission boundaries. So I too was mistaken.

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  8. The new stake in Imo State, Nigeria is the Mbaise State. Anthony Obinna lived in an area of Imo State called Aboh Mbaise, which is actually a set of villages. From reading the Wikipedia article Aboh Mbaise is one of three local government areas that make up Mbaise.

    Anthony Obinna was on of the leaders of groups in Nigeria that sought for missionaries for years. His story was recounted in a film The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made in pioneers in every land in the 1990s. He may have been the first branch president called in Nigeria. A letter from him was read by President Kimball at the regional representatives seminar in September 1978 when President Kimball was emphasizing a new to find a way to get missionaries to Nigeria immediately.

    I would only be a little shocked if Mbaise was announced as a temple location now that it has a stake.

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  9. Why do we not include the UK countries like Scotland, Walses and Northern Ireland in this list?

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  10. New Area Presidencies include a Third Europe Area.
    An area seventy for Russia and Belarus.
    Reinstatement of England Bristol Mission.

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  11. I live about 15 minutes from the DC temple. There are two issues with having a Baltimore temple:

    1) A Baltimore temple even if on the side of the city farthest from DC would be less than an hour away. The DC temple is sitting *on* the Beltway on the North side of the city (actually in Maryland) I think the only places in the USA with two temples less than an hour from each other are in the Intermontane west and California (though Denver to Ft. Collins is close).
    2) DC is a *huge* temple. 6 endowment rooms, 12 sealing rooms (prior to the reconstruction). It was built to serve North America east of the Mississippi, the Caribbean and South America, and area now served by more than 50 temples, I believe.

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    1. Mexico City Temple is basically as massive as DC Temple and it is getting a new temple 10 miles away. I think the populationand membership in Mexico City is bigger though.

      I would be surprised by a Baltimore Temple. However it is a dark horse possibility.

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  12. Christopher Duerig - Could you please contact me at Matt.Martinich@gmail.com? I have something I wanted to talk with you about. Thanks!

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  13. Does anyone know why there isn't a Pierre South Dakota Stake? South Dakota has 10,610 members according to Church Newsroom, which is sufficient for 3 stakes as long as there are at least 99 active Melchizedek priesthood holders. Pierre would be an ideal place for a small temple if there were a stake there.

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    1. Pierre has a ward. It is surrounded by many small branches up to 100 miles away, so has been combined with the Rapid City SD stake. Rapid City, on the other hand, is a bulging stake with 5 city wards plus 3 wards (Belle Fourche, Chadron NE, Pierre) and many branches (Pine Ridge SD, Hot Springs SD, Gordon NE, plus all those in the former Pierre District.

      Anticipate a split of the Rapid City Stake especially as Ellsworth AFB takes on new and growing activities (next-gen B21 stealth bomber training base,m, for one), and the Black Hills explodes with growth as socio-political-demographic changes post-Covid take off.

      Pierre is a ward in the middle of a prairie of expansive miles and few members.

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    2. Easy to get 3 stakes out of Rapid City and Gillette WY stakes. There are multiple wards/branches that are in or abut the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills (Newcastle WY ward, Sundance WY branch, Wight, Moorcroft, etc.)

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  14. Individual unit sizes matter for stakes. Typically at the time of creation, you would want five wards at minimum. In the case of Pierre, it is part of the Rapid City Stake (assuming Cumorah.org is up to date). It is quite isolated and is surrounded entirely by branches, some of which seem to be quite small.

    I think Rapid City is a solid candidate for now. Population growth trends in the Dakotas are quite volatile though, so I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see a temple built somewhere else in the state.

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  15. How does list compare to the countries with the FEWEST members WITH a temple?

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    1. I am pretty sure Singapore with an announced teme has far fewer members than Malaysia. Guam is going to make that list as well.

      It would be interesting how many countries with fewer members than Uganda have a temple at least announced.

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  16. Is it possible a temple in Uganda wasn't announced because Brazzaville was announced this go around?

    Do missionaries called to the Bristol mission, do any of them learn Welsh?

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  17. I doubt Uganda getting a temple or not is affected by Brazzaville. With Uganda they are either waiting for another stake between there and Kenya, waiting for some other indicator to be met, or waiting to have some level of securing a site before announcing.

    I just did the drive time to the temple for both Knoxville and Charlotte. Charlotte is only an hour and a half drive from the Columbia Twmple while Knoxville is a 2 hour drive from Nashville. Kingsport in Tennesee assigned to the Columbia Temple goes from an almost 4 hour drive to an hour and a half drive. It would still be roughly 3 hours 15 minutes to Charlotte. Ashville is 2 hours 24 minutes from Columbia, and goes to about 1 hour 53 minutes to Knoxville. The thing is to Knoxville is over the mountains, I am not sure if weather may at times be a factor.

    Thos still will leave Columbia with 15 stakes. Google maps tells me Ashville to Charlotte is 2 hours 5 minutes, but this is not over the mountains and we do not know even the actual cite of the Knoxville Temple let alone the hypothetical Charlotte Temple, so it is hard to say what actual placement would be. I would also need a better idea of what all is in Ashville stake.

    However Windon-Salem is just closer to Charlotte than Raleigh Temple and Greenboro and High Point are too close to call. After looking at this I think a Charlotte Temple might be placed north-east of Charlotte, or maybe northward but right by the main freeway, so it could be a clear plus even for Greenboro. That would put us at 8 stakes for Charlotte Temple, 10 for Raleigh and 9 for Columbia. Columbia would then have only stakes in Georgia and South Carolina, and only Rock Hill stake would move to Charlotte from South Carolina. Rock Hill stake is just over the border from Charlotte and may even cross the state line.

    Of corse if President Nelson is actually trying to have roughly 4 stakes per temple in areas with large distances, which might be what Grand Junction and a few other recent announcements suggest, Charleston South Carolina and somewhere in East North Carolina may be on the table as well. I would be a little more confident with Charleston if Charleston stake itself splitt, east North Carolina Kinston looks to be the best place to put a temple. I really wanted to pick one of the 4 stake cities, but Goldsboro is just too close to Raleigh, Greenville would not improve things for Wilmington, and Mooorehead City and Wilmington are too far away to help Goldboro.

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  18. So after reading this list, I'm interested in the prospects for a temple in Guyana.

    I know it only has 2 districts, but its location is geographically right in between a gap in temples and the countries of Trinidad and Tobago, eastern Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, and very far northern Brazil. It might be a good central location for that particular region.

    Also, the country is associated culturally with the Caribbean and is pretty ethnically and racially mixed (main language is English/English Creole, but they also speak Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, a local variant of Hindi, and various indigenous languages), so they might be a good alternate temple option for those in Trinidad (who also speak an English Creole) to attend (in case those in Trinidad and Tobago have difficulty attending the temple in Caracas.

    The country is also majority Christian (over 60%).

    Thoughts from those with more expertise on this area of the world?

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  19. I would expect a temple for the southern Caribbean region to be announced in a location that had a stake. So until Guyana gets a stake I highly expect that port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago is a more likely temple location.

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    1. The question is, would a temple for Port of Spain Trinidad (which I don't believe is also part of Tobago, despite the two islands being geographically grouped together in general) be likely before a Kingston Jamaica Temple? Both prospects are on my list for the Caribbean. I've prioritized Port of Spain for now, but with Jamaica being sixth on the list above, I wouldn't be shocked if Kingston is announced first.

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    2. Trinidad and Tobago is one nation on two islands.

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  20. One other point here. The chaos in Venezuela has essentially removed that as a possible temple for the Guinuas (which are often grouped with the Caribbean anyway) we had a sister in the Washington DC mission from Surinam that went on her mission without being endowed ( happened within hours of arriving in Peovo) and wasn't sealed to her living family until they came up to DC at the end of her mission)

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    1. @Randolph Finder:

      Thanks for the extra info on Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname.

      Since we like stats, I found this site that lists which countries Venezuelan refugees are fleeing to (numbers are from 2020):

      https://www.statista.com/statistics/824384/leading-countries-destination-venezuelan-migrants/

      Guyana had 23,000 as of 2020, and Trinidad and Tobago had 24,000.

      Colombia had the most, nearing 2 Million (which surprised me, because for some reason I'd thought Brazil had the most).

      The situation in Venezuela saddens me. I baptized a lady from Venezuela on my mission, and our Spanish Zone had several "visa-waiter" missionaries waiting to go serve their missions in Maracaibo, Valencia (and possibly Caracas, but my memory's fuzzy on that one). Two of those Elders were my companions.

      I hope those fleeing the opression can find better opportunities and happier lives in their new countries. I hope we can find ways to help them both with their physical needs, and with the life-changing messages of the Gospel of Christ.

      I hope the new temples we're building now/will potentially announce and build in those surrounding countries can bless their lives, as well.

      (I hope for changes for the better within Venezuela itself, too.)

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  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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