Below is a list of the countries where the Church reported a net
increase of four or more units for the year 2024. The annual percentage
increase for the number of wards and branches for each country is also
provided:
- Democratic Republic of the Congo +57 (19.7% increase)
- Nigeria +30 (3.70% increase)
- Philippines +28 (2.16% increase)
- Ghana +17 (4.59% increase)
- Uganda +15 (38.5% increase)
- Canada +13 (2.66% increase)
- Peru +13 (1.66% increase)
- Bolivia +12 (4.40% increase)
- Mozambique +11 (15.9% increase)
- Tanzania +9 (36.0% increase)
- Burundi +8 (200% increase)
- Ecuador +7 (2.14% increase)
- Kenya +7 (10.1% increase)
- Benin +6 (23.1% increase)
- Cape Verde +5 (12.5% increase)
- Cote d'Ivoire +5 (1.91% increase)
- Honduras +5 (2.09% increase)
- Liberia +5 (6.67% increase)
- Malawi +5 (38.5% increase)
- Pakistan +5 (35.7% increase)
- Angola +4 (16.0% increase)
- Chile +4 (0.70% increase)
- Colombia +4 (1.56% increase)
- Brazil -76 (3.50% decrease)
- United States -15 (0.10% decrease)
- Australia -10 (3.27% decrease)
- New Zealand -7 (3.10% decrease)
- United Kingdom -4 (1.30% decrease)
Previous lists for annual congregational growth by country are available for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020-2021, 2022, and 2023.
Key Observations from 2024 Congregational Growth Data
1. 2024 marks one of the strongest years of congregational growth in the 21st century
The Church reported significant congregational expansion in a wider range of countries than seen in any other year in recent memory. In total, 23 countries experienced a net increase of at least four congregations each, totaling a combined net gain of 461 wards and branches—the highest number reported since at least the late 2000s.
2. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to drive global growth
This region accounted for nearly half of the global net increase in congregations among countries with at least four new units. Countries with the most aggressive national outreach—Democratic Republic of the Congo (+57), Uganda (+15), Burundi (+8), Mozambique (+11), and Tanzania (+9)—lead in both absolute and percentage growth. Burundi, in particular, saw an extraordinary 200% increase in the number of congregations, and Malawi and Uganda both grew by 38.5%. These rapid growth rates reflect continued high levels of convert baptisms and unit creation in newly opened or expanding areas.
3. Latin America showed broader but modest congregational growth
Several Latin American countries—including Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, and Honduras—each reported a net increase of four or more congregations. This represents a more widespread growth footprint than seen in many previous years. However, the percentage growth in these countries remains modest, rarely exceeding 2–4%. This suggests ongoing maturation of Church infrastructure rather than aggressive outreach or unusually high convert activity.
4. Brazil experienced substantial contraction
With a net decrease of 76 congregations, Brazil was responsible for approximately two-thirds of the total unit losses globally in 2024. This contraction mirrors past restructuring periods—most notably in 2000 (-116 units) and 2001 (-74 units)—when the Church consolidated congregations with low activity levels. These efforts appear aimed at strengthening existing units and optimizing administrative efficiency rather than reflecting a broader membership decline.
5. Congregational decline in the United States continues, but at a slowing pace
For the third consecutive year, the United States saw a net decrease in congregations (-15). However, this was an improvement over 2023 (-21) and 2022 (-62). Despite this trend, the Church reported a net membership increase of 125,928 over the past two years. During this time, the average number of members per ward or branch rose from 466 to 475—a modest increase of only nine members per congregation.
To put this in perspective, while some might interpret these declines as signs of weakening activity or retention, the members-to-congregations ratio has remained remarkably stable. Between 2018 and 2021, the average number of members per congregation actually declined slightly (from 468 to 461), yet rebounded by 2024. Moreover, the number of stakes in the United States continues to grow steadily, rising from 1,642 in 2019 to 1,709 in 2024. 2025 will be an important year to determine whether there is a noticeable net increase in congregations based on the past couple years of strong membership growth, or if there is a near net-zero increase or decrease in the total number of congregations.
In sum, the data do not support the idea of a major downturn in Church activity or convert retention in the United States. Instead, they likely reflect ongoing consolidation efforts and a mature Church structure, with moderate increases in stake-level leadership even as local units are optimized.
See below for a graph of the members-to-congregations ratio for the United States
14 comments:
Another great report, Matt! Thank you. Keep up the great work! Looking forward to your analysis of the newly-announced temples. Thanks for all you do.
The opening arrangements have been set for the Elko Nevada and Grand Junction Colorado Temples:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/open-house-and-dedication-dates-temples-grand-junction-colorado-elko-nevada
For my analysis on these updates, please visit the following link:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2025/04/breaking-temple-news-opening.html
My thanks once again to Matt for allowing me to share such updates, and my thanks once again to you all.
DR Congo having 57 new congregations and a nearly 20% growth in congregations is phenomenal. Having 2 new missions probably helped in this regard. We may well see a similar level there in 2025.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Burundi. Going from 4 to 12 congregations is truly great. It would be hard to keep up that growth rate and go to 36 congregations in 2025. It might be hard, even with stable or even increasing baptismal numbers yo even make it to 20 congregations in 2025 which would be a stable number of new congregations.
It might also be interesting to know what percentage of the reductions of units was caused by branches combining to become wards.
I do know that in the Detroit mission in the last year or so we have had a few language specific groups formed. Groups not getting counted does obscure one way in which new unit creation occurs.
I am quite glad that the Elko and Grand Junction Temples now have dedication dates.
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the number of active members per ward also fluctuate over time? For example, after the shift to 2 hour church and consolidate HP group into EQ, fewer members are needed to run a ward. Without understanding the average size of active membership per unit, this figure of total nominal members per ward doesn’t seem to be sufficient to tell us about changing activity rates one way or another.
And just to follow up, even if the ratio of active members to unit were constant over time, wouldn’t 3 years in a row of unit consolidations mean a shift in changing activity?
I’m very confused by the inferences being made. Appreciate any further insight.
Since unit changes happen on the local and specific level it is very hard to infer very much from the number of units created or ended.
The number of active members per church unit is not constant. The new unit creation policies inaugurated in 2024 tie unit creation more closely to numbers of active members.
At times The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has followed policies with the goal of increasing the number of active members per unit. So a lower number of units does not mean fewer active members.
I especially like the talk, I think it was from Elder Rasband, in general conference that encouraged giving callings to a broader array of people. I have seen cases where people have focused too much on giving callings to those who currently have the skills instead of extending callings to people who can grow into the skills.
The most obvious place where unit consolidation happens is at times more than one branch is merge to form one ward. This does not mean there are less active members. I could also see cases where a ward might be merged as part of creating a new stake, so there are enough people to support the added stake callings. This would be a case where having fewer wards would not be because of less active members. The reduced travel time fir stake events and activities might well justify doing this. Especially if the ward combines with other wards that meet in the sane building.
Another reason to combine is there is great advantage to having enough youth. So there are advantages to combining wards. Since you also have lots of different youth events at the stake level, not having youth have to travel too far is a plus. With FSY every other year, the disadvantages for a not quite as large number of youth as not as pronounced as when youth conference was mainly on the stake level.
Also, as I said before, it appears there has been a significant increase in the number of language-specific groups in the last few years. At some point this will probably result in several new branches being formed, but that point has in many cases not been reached. At least back in the 1990s several geographical and language branches were formed that would now have been formed as groups under an existing ward or branch. So comparisons over time become difficult when the rules for unit formation are changed.
It's a bit of shame that Australia had a net decrease in units. Would Matt or anyone know which units were discontinued by chance?
Rocky, I may be wrong, but weren't there consolidations last year when the 3 Adelaide Australia Stakes became 2. I could be confused.
Matt hasn't updated his international Atlas for the Adelaide area yet from the mergers. It still shows the old 3 Stakes.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&ll=-34.90409400000001%2C138.65295399999997&spn=26.42314%2C46.538086&mid=1Lkjf8GlL_jmXmGLA5A0TM6XnhgA&z=8
Here's the organization of the 3 stakes from before the consolidation, and you can compare with the current meetinghouse Stake lists.
It's not all inclusive of net consolidations for 2024 but it's a start.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&ll=-32.4916059166317%2C135.637207&spn=6.349982%2C11.634521&mid=10hmeAY51B3jjfM100dbFZhEdAj0&z=7
James, to become a ward, you have to have
- 100 participating adults (new Requirement),
- 20 Active, Full-Tithe-Paying Melchizedek Priesthood Holders (same for US/Canada - increase for the rest of the world),
-250 total members on record (prior to 2024 - 300 for US/Canada 150 for rest of the world). This would allow wards with few less actives (such as ones that primarily cover new neighborhoods in US) to split a little sooner.
- recommended but not required is 20 youth enrolled in seminary (no recommendation or requirement prior to 2024.
"Participating adults are individuals who pay full or partial tithes, hold a current temple recommend, have a calling in the Church, or are new members who are attending sacrament meeting during their first year of membership." This wasn't a requirement before 2024
The two-hour block didn't eliminate any organizations. EQ, RS, or SS, now meet bi-weekly, so I'm not sure where the calling reduction your stating is coming from.
I guess he's talking about callings that were prominent years ago that now have either become less prominent or shifted elsewhere (there's only three I can think of). High Priests Groups at least at the ward level is no longer a thing. Anyone that went to a High Priests Group now meets with the Elders Quorum, so that eliminated the need for High Priests Group Leaders and counselors if they had them (it's been a long time, they likely had them). Ward Mission Leaders is now an optional calling if the ward has need of one. I know in our stake, when the announcement went out, all the other wards released their Ward Mission Leader, and our ward was the only one that still had ours. Our stake president used this at a leadership meeting to showcase how hasty the other wards were for getting rid of theirs. The last one I can think of is the Young Men's Organization. I don't know when this happened, to me, it was just suddenly a thing, but at least in our ward, the Bishopric doubles as the Young Men's President and Councilors (could very well be because we have like, two-three young men show up). I suppose there's also Ward Librarian (called something like Resource Specialist or other now), but I remember every Sunday, there was a person that always staffed the library, but now, the library is just fair game which I think is sad. I guess with how digital things have gotten, the need for a library has dropped a lot, but not enough to completely get rid of it.
Ryan, as far as when the shift to eliminate young men's organizations happened, it was back in the October 2019 General Conference:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/2019/10/5/23264727/general-conference-october-2019-young-men-priesthood/
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/24nelson?lang=eng
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/25cook?lang=eng
During that conference, President Nelson also announced changes to who can serve as witnesses and changes to the young women organization. He then had Elder Cook speak more about the changes in the Saturday Afternoon Session, with then-Young Women General President Bonnie H. Cordon outline the changes to the young women classes later on in the Women's Session that night:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/33cordon?lang=eng
So shifts were announced that affected the Relief Society, Young Men, and Young Women organizations. So on the one hand, youth and women were given more prerogative to do things as invited to do so (like being witnesses to baptism, priests being able to officiate in temple baptisms, and the youth more directly being under the stewardship of the bishopric, but on the other hand, it reduced the number of callings for the Young Men and Young Women organizations.
Hope that helps address your questions.
No questions, but good information to know.
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