The Church has released year-end 2024 membership and congregation totals
for most nations with a reported Church presence. These statistics can
be accessed on Church's official website at https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics.
Countries with the highest annual membership growth rates for 2024 are listed below. Lists for nations with the most rapid
annual membership
growth rates are also available for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023. A list of the biennial membership growth rates for countries between year-end 2019 to year-end 2021 can be found here. The percentage next to the country name for the list below is the annual membership growth rate
for 2024. Countries in bold experienced
a membership increase greater than 200 during 2024.
- Russia* - 255% - 18,132
- Rwanda - 61.9% - 2,489
- Mozambique - 27.9% - 31,633
- Tanzania - 26.5% - 5,022
- Malawi - 24.3% - 5,937
- Angola - 24.1% - 7,321
- Lesotho - 21.0% - 1,890
- Zambia - 19.7% - 7,072
- Burundi - 17.3% - 1,807
- DR Congo - 16.6% - 134,067
- Benin - 15.2% - 7,071
- Republic of Georgia - 14.2% - 313
- Uganda - 13.9% - 25,210
- Madagascar - 12.7% - 17,331
- Zimbabwe - 11.7% - 46,071
- Sierra Leone - 11.4% - 34,617
- Kazakhstan - 11.0% - 242
- Ethiopia - 10.5% - 2,423
- Kenya - 10.4% - 21,204
- Bosnia and Herzegovina - 10.3% - 86
*Membership dramatically increased in Russia due an apparent change in membership reporting from 2023
The
following is a list of the top 10 countries with the highest negative
membership growth rates (i.e., fastest rate of membership decline)
during 2024. The percent growth rate is provided next
to the country name, and the number to the right of the percentage
growth rate is the year-end 2023 membership total for the country. Four of these countries had at least 1,000 members: the Marshall Islands, Romania, Singapore, and Ukraine.
- Palau - -23.3% - 421
- Israel - -5.78% - 310
- Luxembourg - -3.51% - 522
- Kuwait - -3.48% - 361
- Iceland - -2.65% - 404
- Romania - -2.38% - 3,029
- Jersey - -1.82% - 270
- Singapore - -1.74% - 3,227
- Marshall Islands - -1.51% - 6,660
- Ukraine - -1.49% - 9,903
Below is a list of the top 10 countries by numerical membership net increase for 2024. Each country is provided with the numerical national increase in membership for the year. Additionally, the percentage of total church membership increase that is accounted for by each country is provided (i.e., a percentage of the world membership increase for 2024 that is within that country). Lists are also available for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023. A list of the biennial period of 2020-2021 is also available. 73.4% of the 2024 net increase in Church membership can be attributed to the following 11 nations (I included 11 this year because Russia should not count given a change in membership reporting appears to explain the large increase in membership for the year).
- United States - 61,163 - 21.5%
- Brazil - 30,865 - 10.9%
- DR Congo - 19,040 - 6.7%
- Nigeria - 17,687 - 6.2%
- Mexico - 17,652 - 6.2%
- Philippines - 15,190 - 5.3%
- Russia* - 13,031 - 4.6%
- Peru - 10,865 - 3.8%
- Argentina - 9,642 - 3.4%
- Mozambique - 6,900 - 2.4%
- Ghana - 6,582 - 2.3%
*Membership dramatically increased in Russia due an apparent change in membership reporting from 2023
Below is a list of the top four countries by numerical membership decrease for 2024. Each country is provided with the numerical national decrease in membership during the year 2024. There were only four countries that experienced a net decrease by 100 or more during 2024.
- Japan - -474
- Ukraine - -150
- Palau - -128
- Marshall Islands - -102
Several points to make with the 2024 annual membership growth numbers.
First, growth rates in East Africa and Central Africa have not only been sustained from 2023 but accelerated in some nations during 2024. This is especially impressive, as higher rates of membership growth become more difficult to achieve as membership grows larger. All countries in the Africa Central Area with reported statistics experienced at least 10% annual membership growth in 2024, except for the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo (which experienced an annual membership growth rate of 8.4%). Membership in Rwanda more than doubled during the two-year period from year-end 2022 to year-end 2024. For the first time in over a decade, membership increased by more than 10% in Ethiopia and Uganda. In the DR Congo, membership increased by 16.6%—the highest annual growth rate since 2002, when there were only 13,637 members. The Church also experienced very high rates of membership growth in Mozambique and Malawi. In Mozambique, membership has doubled since year-end 2021, and there are now over 31,000 Latter-day Saints in the country. In Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Church reported its second-highest annual growth rate for membership since 2004. In southern Africa, the Church in Botswana and South Africa reported the highest membership growth rates in over a decade. In Lesotho, the Church reported its highest annual membership growth rate since 1993, when there were only 300 members. In Angola, Church membership grew by 24.1%—the highest annual growth rate since 2009, when there were fewer than 1,000 members in the country. In West Africa, membership growth rates accelerated in most countries in 2024 compared to 2023, but generally remained below growth rates achieved prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Second, the Church in Europe experienced some of its most rapid membership growth in decades during 2024 in several countries. In Spain, Church membership increased by 3.85% (just slightly higher than the 3.82% reported for 2023)—the highest reported by the Church since 2007. In Italy, membership grew by 2.62% in 2024—the highest annual growth rate since 2004 (which was also 2.62%). In France, Church membership increased by 1.79%—also the highest annual membership growth rate since 2007. In Germany, Church membership increased by 1.06%—the highest rate of membership growth since 2011. In Denmark, membership increased by 0.83%—the second-highest year for membership growth since 1995. Most other European countries experienced typical membership growth rates consistent with recent years.
Third, the Church in the United States reported nearly the same net increase in membership for 2024 compared to 2023 (61,163 in 2024 versus 64,765 in 2023), with membership increasing by 0.89% for the year. The year 2023 was significant for membership growth in the United States, as it saw the highest net increase in membership (64,765) since 2015 and the highest annual membership growth rate (0.95%) since that same year. Thus, recent membership growth in the United States appears to represent a new trend, rather than a continuation of the steady decline in membership growth that had persisted for nearly a decade.
Fourth, membership growth rates in much of Latin America have returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. In a few instances, annual membership growth rates were even higher than before the pandemic. For example, the Church in Paraguay reported its highest membership growth rate since 2013 (2.27%), while the Church in Uruguay reported its highest membership growth rate since 2012 (1.71%). Church membership in Puerto Rico grew by 1.0% in 2024—the highest seen in a decade.
Fifth, the Church in Canada reported an annual membership growth rate of 1.26% for 2024—slightly higher than in 2023 and the highest rate of annual membership growth since 2012.
15 comments:
Congregational growth in the DRC was 19.7% (289 units to 346), higher than the membership growth rate of 16.6%. The number of branches increased 71.1%, from 52 to 87. Love to see it.
The rumored net loss of units in the US was correct, loss of 15 units total. Gain of 11 branches and loss of 26 wards. Decrease in units of 0.1% and the third year of unit decline in the US in a row, despite roughly 120,000 new members added to the rolls.
This is very good news overall. Especially the rate of congregation creation in DR Congo. Rwanda is also a very encouraging place.
That's concerning. I get unit growth/decline lags membership growth/decline, but total units declining several years running while nominal membership continues to increase isn't great.
Obviously North America is an ongoing concern. But I’m really happy with Africa! Many African units seem to be avoiding the problems that have created high activity issues in other parts of the world, and the growth rates are very high!
Thanks for this report, Matt! It was very informative. Looking forward to your analysis of the 15 newest temples. Keep up the great work.
How does this compare to Pew Research showing a decrease in self-reported LDS identity in the US west from 6% to 4%? That indicates about 20% reduction in self identified members in the western USA, with stagnant growth or reduction elsewhere? Latter-Day Saints also had the second lowest retention of youth into adulthood, at 54%, just ahead of Buddhism.
Do we have any reliable data about growth in active membership in various countries and retention of youth and converts?
I have been interested in having a discussion regarding the recent Pew data, perhaps we can start a thread here for all that are interested. It seems that James (not Stokes) has also been interested, so maybe anyone who wants to can reply to this comment to keep things contained?
I found the Pew data to be rather screwy, for lack of a better term. There were such huge swings in every bit of demographic data presented regarding Latter-day Saints (for better or for worse) that I am having a hard time accepting the results at face value, especially when considering how small the sample size is in the survey (around 600ish members). I’ll organize some of the biggest findings and my thoughts on those below:
1. The Pew survey showed that the proportion of self-identified LDS in the surveyed population is essentially unchanged from the 2014 survey, at 1.5%. I think we can all agree that the proportion of self-identified LDS is overrepresented in the survey population; with nominal membership comprising roughly 2% of the population, I don’t believe that 3 out of 4 LDS on the rolls self-identify as LDS. This is not a new trend, and previous surveys have shown LDS as 1.7% in 2007 and 1.6% in 2014, so we have consistently been overrepresented, with a more accurate representation probably being closer to 1% even. If taken at face value, while the data show the proportion of the population identifying as LDS shrinking, the numerical amount (if extrapolated to the entire population) would be the same at roughly 5.4 million across all 3 surveys, which again I believe is too high.
2. Retention of those born in the faith saw a 12 point decrease from 66% in 2014 to 54% in the 2023/24 survey, dropping the LDS from 6th highest (3rd highest amongst Christian faiths) in 2014 to the second lowest in the 2023/24 survey. I found this to be the strangest of all the strange findings in the survey, as the percentage of the surveyed population who were born and still identify as LDS remains the exact same, at 1.1%. Rather, this shift came about exclusively with a 25% increase in the surveyed population that said they were born in the LDS faith. In the 2014 and 2007 studies, the percentage of the population raised in the LDS faith was 1.7%. In the 2023/24 survey, it was 2.1%, with that additional 0.4% exclusively contributing to the disaffiliated population, which increased from 0.6% of the surveyed population to 1.0% between 2014 and 2023/24. Taken at face value and extrapolated, this would mean that there are more individuals in the US who were raised in the church than there are current members on the rolls. Given the relatively low level at which records are removed even for those who disaffiliate, I find this extremely unlikely. If anyone can provide a convincing argument or datapoint as to whether there was a 25% increase in the population that was raised in the church between 2014-2024 I would love to hear it, however I believe this is just an additional overrepresentation of individuals who have had some affiliation with the church.
3. The percentage of non-white LDS increased by 75% between 2014 and 2023/24, from 16% in 2014 to 28% in 2023/24. This is an additional massive swing, with Black LDS increasing from 1% of LDS surveyed in 2014 to 6% in 2023, Hispanic increasing 50% from 8% to 12% in 2023, and a 40% increase in Other/Multiracial members from 5% to 7%. However much I would love for this to be the case, to have such a huge shift in a decade does seem very extreme to me, especially with no noticeable shift in geographic distribution between the surveys.
There are other interesting points that would be worth discussing (including the gender shift and the highest proportion of 18-25 year olds in the church), these are just the three that I find most perplexing and am having the hardest time coming up with explanations for massive shifts, other than peculiar survey populations with wide margins of error.
The Church announced open house and dedication dates for the Elko Nevada and Grand Junction Colorado temples today, which will be dedicated by Elder Gary E. Stevenson and President Jeffrey R. Holland on October 12 and 19, respectively.
Interestingly, this will be President Holland's first *dedication* assignment under President Nelson; his other three dedicatory assignments have all been rededications.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/open-house-and-dedication-dates-temples-grand-junction-colorado-elko-nevada
If I understand correctly the PEW data is limited to people age 18 and older. That has quite a bit of impact.
Going from 1% of the self-identified respondents saying thry are African-American to 6% does seem a huge shift. There has been an increase of African-American church members over the last 10 or so years.
However it is also possible the 2014 African-American percentage was very low due to sampling error.
On the other hand the children of both Trqcey Browning and Mia Love were all under 18 in 2014 and they are all at least 18 today. Depending on how mixed race children of a white and a black parent identified on the survey this could have an impact on the results.
It should also be kept in mind that stated religious identity on a survey is not a reflection of actual religious participation. Some percentage of people who state a religion have no active role in it, do not in any way follow its guidelines and teachings. Their identification with it or not is not a clear indicator of much, and so we should not read more into it than is actually there.
Breaking down me.bership by White, Hispanic, Black, and other/multi racial just seems odd. It begs a lot of questions. Are these the options people are given, or are they assigned them based on their response?
Is the survey like the US census allowing people to indicate multiple race categories, or do they have to choose one? Are people who inficate Hispanic/Latino all included in that, or do people who indicate Hospanic/Latino ans something else placed in the multiracial category? Are people from Southwest Asia and North Africa eluded as white pr can thry identify that region as their place of origin.
The answers to all these questions need to be known to understand the data. We also need to know the answers to all of them are constant in the last 2 surveys to compare the data. The exact wording of the Hispsnic/Latino question matters. The census has changed it over time. If the census had used the 1960 wording on the 2010 census the Hispanic/Latino population would have been greater in 2010, so the Hispanic/Latino population has been growing faster in the US than the surveys indicate.
The fact that there are 2 Spanish-language stakes in Utah where there were none a year ago, that these stakes do not cover most Soanish-language units in Utah, and that there are many Latino members in Utah who go to units that are not designated as Spanish-speaking means there is a rise in Latino membership in Utah.
To understand the racial data in the Pew survey we also need to know all the racial data from the survey. We should not compare the data to expected total population characteristics based on the dnsus for a few reasons. 1-samplimg issues. Various known and unknown factors effect the racial results on the census and and survey. Comparing across different studies makes sampling issues hard to overcome.
2-dwfiniyion issues. The race definitions or technically race and ethnicity definitions used in the US are complex, not always clear, and there are edge cases that are tricky. Are people from Spain or with ancestry in Spain white or Hispanic? Are black people from Panama black or Gispanic? How about the Dominican Republic? Are people of European descent from Brazil white? What category for people from Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Yemen? What about dark skinned ethnic Arabs from Sudan?
What about the daughter of my co-workwr who is of white and Mexican descent and her husband is black? The reality is there are lots of people who at various times can change their racial designation. Most are of mixed descent and due to the nature of identity and the wording of the form will respond differently.
3. The biggest reason to not compare the census to the Pew results is the Pew firm covers those 18 plus. We are now to a point where the majority of the US population under 18 is in some way not part of the non-Hispanic white group, but the majority of the US population is. However this has existed for about 5 years.
The reasons for this are 3 fold. 1-immigrants are much less non-Hispanic white than the overall population of the US. They are more under 18 than the overall population. 2- birth rates are higher among non-Hispanic whites but some of that is 3- the rise of interracial marriage means that children less likely to be non-Hispanic white than their parents.
The fastest growing population in the US is Hispanic/Latinos. However this is partly because of the way it is defined. A person who marks white and black on the census by the most used counts ends up under the mixed race category. A person who marks Hispanic and white or Hispanic and black ends up under Hispanic.
There are historic reasons for this. Hispanicness includes people who identify as being white Hispanic and black Hispanic. However a bunch of the mixed people today are the child of a immigrant parent from Latin Ameeica and a white or black parent born in the US.
Utah - 14,524-
2,205,134
california-41 -
728,639
Idaho - 4,931-
481,049
Arizona-1,910-
444,789
Texas-6,800
Texas
392,400
Washington-464-
282,266
Nevada-311-Nevada
183,097
Florida-3,373-
176,291
Oregon-246-
150,416
Colorado-535-
149,722
Virginia-1,245-
100,031
North Carolina-2,298-
97,653
Georgia-1,1441-
92,583
New York-3,029-
90,634
Missouri-2,773-
83,213
Hawaii-722-
76,357
New Mexico-19-
69,451
Wyoming-Nevetive 173-
67,518
Ohio-1,214-
65,809
Tennessee-1,663-
60,865
Illionis-1,049-
58,886
Pennsylvania-990
54,015
Oklahoma-770-
53,614
Montana-378-
52,446
Indiana-1,062-
48,851
Michigan-803
46,847
South Carolina-776-
46,586
Maryland-555-
44,649
Alabama-699-
41,239
Kansas-Nevative 266-
40,003
Kentucky-1,340-
39,875
Arkansas-894-
37,524
New Jersey-921-
36,374
Alaska-39-
33,987
Minnesota-353-
34,112
Louisiana-163-
30,076
Iowa-477-
29,762
Massachusetts-273-
28,940
Wisconsin-311-
28,741
Nebraska-364-
26,299
Mississippi-105-
22,402
West Virginia-205-
17,762
Connecticut-336-
16,366
South Dakota-378-
11,979
North Dakota-214-
11,896
Maine-151-
11,384
New Hampshire-160
8,713
Delaware-129-
5,865
Vermont-23-
4,647
Rhode Island-65-
4,861
DC- 122-District of Columbia
3,337
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