Friday, April 10, 2026

Country-by-Country Membership Statistics Released for 2025

The Church has released year-end 2025 membership and congregation totals for most nations with a reported Church presence. These statistics can be accessed on Church's official United Kingdom website at https://news-uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics.

Countries with the highest annual membership growth rates for 2025 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, 20222023, and 2024. 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 2025. The number at the end of the each line is year-end membership for 2025. Countries in bold experienced an annual membership increase of greater than 200.

  1. Solomon Islands - 98.7% - 3,232
  2. Montenegro - 91.2% - 65
  3. Georgia - 59.1% - 498 
  4. Rwanda - 45.6% - 3,625
  5. Israel - 36.1% - 422
  6. Palau - 35.9% - 572
  7. Malawi - 32.3% - 7,857
  8. Central African Republic - 27.1% - 357
  9. Tanzania - 24.6% - 6,259
  10. Mozambique - 24.2% - 39,282
  11. Sint Maarten - 23.9% - 358
  12. Niue - 23.8% - 400
  13. Malta - 21.7% - 320
  14. Sierra Leone - 20.7% - 41,775
  15. Lesotho - 20.5% - 2,278
  16. Angola - 19.9% - 8,779
  17. St. Kitts and Nevis - 19.7% - 292
  18. DR Congo - 19.2% - 159,771
  19. Madagascar - 17.7% - 20,395
  20. Benin - 17.2% - 8,286
  21. Ireland - 16.9% - 4,923
  22. Kenya - 15.8% - 24,547
  23. Turkey - 15.8% - 808
  24. Reunion - 15.1% - 989
  25. Namibia - 15.0% - 1,492
  26. Puerto Rico - 14.9% - 26,947
  27. Burundi - 14.6% - 2,070
  28. Jamaica - 14.3% - 7,856
  29. Zimbabwe - 13.8% - 52,430
  30. Republic of the Congo - 13.1% - 15,482
  31. Botswana - 12.9% - 5,465
  32. Papua New Guinea - 12.9% - 46,583
  33. Serbia - 12.8% - 422
  34. Croatia - 12.7% - 739
  35. Nauru - 11.5% - 146
  36. United States Virgin Islands - 11.2% - 704
  37. Liberia - 11.0% - 25,767
  38. Eswatini (Swaziland) - 10.7% - 2,598
  39. Zambia - 10.6% - 7,823
  40. United Arab Emirates - 10.6% - 2,002
  41. Cyprus - 10.6% - 701
  42. Cameroon - 10.4% - 3,673
  43. Macau - 10.4% - 1,595
  44. Iceland - 10.2% - 445 

The following is a list of the 12 countries/territories where there was a decline in Church membership for 2025. 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 2025 membership total for the country. Eight of these countries had at least 1,000 members: Albania, Armenia, Barbados, the Cook Islands, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.

  1. Bahrain - -16.3% - 231
  2. Barbados - -10.2% - 1,082 
  3. Isle of Man - -3.06% - 285
  4. Guernsey - -1.64 - 60
  5. Armenia - -1.27% - 3,579
  6. Cook Islands - -1.15% - 1,890
  7. Trinidad and Tobago - -1.12% - 3,458
  8. Netherlands - -0.99% - 9,027
  9. Albania - -0.96% - 3,285
  10. Indonesia - -0.61% - 7,655
  11. Jersey - -0.37% - 269
  12. United States - 0.00% - 6,929,770

Below is a list of the top 10 countries by numerical membership net increase for 2025. 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 2025 that is within that country). Lists are also available for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 20222023, and 2024. A list for the biennial period of 2020-2021 is also available. 59.1% of the 2025 net increase in Church membership can be attributed to the following 10 nations. 

  1. Brazil - 47,924 - 12.7%
  2. Mexico - 38,229 - 10.1%
  3. DR Congo - 25,704 - 6.8%
  4. Nigeria - 23,702 - 6.3%
  5. Philippines - 22,621 - 6.0%
  6. Peru - 19,791 - 5.2%
  7. Argentina - 14,659 - 3.9%
  8. Chile - 11,149 - 3.0%
  9. Ecuador - 9,846 - 2.6%
  10. Ghana - 9,508 - 2.5%

Below is a list of the top four countries by numerical membership decrease for 2025. Each country is provided with the numerical national decrease in membership during the year 2025. There were only two countries that experienced a net decrease by 100 or more during 2025. 

  1. United States - -186
  2. Barbados - -123

Membership growth numbers for 2025 are the most historic ever reported by the Church for the following reasons.

First, the Church has never had so many countries with annual membership growth rates of at least 10%. There were at least 44 countries/territories where Church membership increased by 10% or more in 2025. In contrast, most years in the past 20 years have had only 10-20 countries that achieve this level of growth. The previous record appeared to be set in 2014 when there were 27 countries with 10% membership growth or higher for the year. This represents a dramatic departure from historical norms, as the number of countries achieving double-digit growth has more than doubled compared to typical annual levels over the past two decades. Importantly, this expansion is occurring simultaneously across both small and large membership bases, indicating that growth is not limited to emerging areas but is increasingly sustained in maturing ones

Second, the Church is no longer reporting membership figures in its official membership for "sensitive countries" where there is no published Church membership figures (i.e., Pakistan, Cuba, mainland China, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam to name a few). The difference between all of the countries with reported membership and the worldwide totals for 2025 was 974. In contrast, this number was 28,216 for 2024. The Church has previously not reported membership figures for some countries in world totals, such as Russia. This dramatic reduction strongly suggests a change in reporting methodology or classification of previously unreported membership, although the Church has not publicly clarified the reason.

Third, the Church in the United States posted its first ever year of negative membership growth notwithstanding reports of a 17% annual increase in convert baptisms for the year. There was a net decline of 186 members for 2025, resulting in essentially 0.00% growth for the year. The previous all-time low for membership growth in the United States in modern times was set during the COVID-19 pandemic when there was only a net increase of 41,987 (0.62 over the two-year period from year-end 2019 to year-end 2021). Decreasing birth rates among active Latter-day Saints, removal of unbaptized children of record after age 8, and name removals due to death, loss of membership, or resignation appear to have driven this drop in membership. It is also possible that efforts to update the accuracy of membership records may account for this decrease. For example, the unusually large increase of nearly 3,500 members in Puerto Rico is most plausibly explained by membership record transfers from the United States, as Puerto Rico has historically experienced minimal growth. These data suggest that factors such as retention, inactivity, and membership record maintenance may now exert a greater influence on net membership totals in the United States than the number of convert baptisms or children of record added each year.

Fourth, there are many countries that have a relatively large membership base that are posting extremely high levels of membership growth. Several countries with already substantial membership bases are now experiencing unusually rapid growth, indicating acceleration rather than simple expansion. The Church in the DR Congo reported an annual growth rate of 19.2% even though there are over 100,000 Latter-day Saints in the country. Membership growth actually accelerated in the DR Congo in 2025 compared to 2024 (16.6%). Membership in the Solomon Islands essentially doubled in 2025 from 1,627 to 3,232. Nearly one-fifth of membership in Mozambique at the end of 2025 had been baptized within the previous 12 months notwithstanding there being nearly 40,000 members. Papua New Guinea reported a 12.9% annual membership growth rate in 2025 which was the highest reported since the late 1990s even though there were 41,268 members at the beginning of the year. Whereas most years have only one to three countries with such rapid growth, 2025 stands out for having multiple examples across several world regions.

Fifth, there has never been such a wide geographical diversification of high rates of membership growth. All world regions had at least one country where membership increased by five percent in 2025. High growth is no longer regionally concentrated but is now distributed across all global regions, indicating increasingly globalized growth dynamics

Sixth, the Church has achieved moderate to high rates of membership growth in nations where stagnant or slow growth has occurred for years, if not decades, such as the Republic of Georgia, Jamaica, Croatia, the United States Virgin Islands, Macau, Lithuania, Belgium, Germany, and Mongolia. 

Taken together, these trends suggest a continued shift in the global center of Church growth toward Africa, Latin America, and select parts of the Pacific, while growth in historically established regions—particularly the United States and parts of Europe—remains uneven, with some countries experiencing renewed momentum alongside others that continue to show modest or stagnant growth. Membership growth in 2025 appears to have accelerated trends observed in 2024, which also stood out as a significant year. The greatest test to determine whether the Church has truly entered a new age of growth and development will be whether these elevated growth rates are sustained and whether they are accompanied by commensurate increases in metrics that more closely reflect active participation, such as the number of congregations and stakes.

52 comments:

  1. Does anyone know if there is a page to find the 2024 membership numbers by country? In order to calculate growth rates for all countries?

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    1. You can go on Wikipedia history to see stats shown in previous edits. Here's a past edit that shows 2024 stats.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Membership_statistics_(LDS_Church)&oldid=1319823381

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    2. Remarkable: Brazil surpassed Mexico in total membership in 2025, becoming the #1 country in # of stakes and absolute membership outside of the US.

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  2. "These data suggest that factors such as retention, inactivity, and membership record maintenance may now exert a greater influence on net membership totals in the United States than the number of convert baptisms or children of record added each year."

    -This issue is bound to be even more prevalent, particularly record maintenance, in other countries. I think at some point the 18 million member number becomes quite meaningless if the records are this messy. Having served in Mexico and still spend a lot of time there, I can confidently say that some of the record upkeep is literally impossible at this point given the church's chosen definition of member of record. There are people that literally cannot be found - not their address, mind you, but that we can't even verify that they ever truly existed or currently exist. There are probably at least 100 of these types of members on the rolls of every established ward in Mexico I've been a member of (over 10 at this point, mostly in D.F.). It would be really helpful if we could see the church provide just a small breakout of removals of children of record for children over 8 who are not baptized. That alone would give a really good indicator of some of the factors differentiating real vs. nominal (reported) growth numbers.

    - Speaking of Mexico, I wonder if some of the record movement out of the United States into Mexico due to immigration should be factored in. ICE deportations and the chilling effect of the country's stance on immigration has caused many to leave the states. Not just deportation of undocumented immigrants - I know of many immigrants with documentation who have voluntarily left in the past year to Mexico, other Latin American countries, and a few I know have left for Canada.

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  3. Matt, thanks once again. This was quite stunning to see the US with no church growth, probably ever. We have seen some of the items indicated a decline with all the stakes being discontinued in Utah the last few years. You have stated that this was mainly due to movement of people in Utah from core Salt Lake County to more peripheral counties in Utah. Are we not baptizing some of these non-members who move into these recently vacated homes? It would seem to me that this would be a prime place to do missionary work: neighbors all around who are members, church facilities close by, and more church activities than we have available in Minneapolis where we have less than 1 member for 200 non-members.

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  4. Matt, we have seen a reduction of convert baptism in Minnesota in the last 3-4 years. An underlying factor in little growth, in fact 100 members less last year than 2024 maybe less to do with convert baptism, than less people moving from out West to Minnesota, than moving in the other direction. There are probably less births in LDS families, but that is difficult to find out when you are 34,000 members in a state with 5.8 million population. We saw over 1500 member population loss during Covid 19 in Minnesota, which was mostly people moving back West and few people moving in to replace them. I think in the future we will have less convert baptisms due to the reduction of immigrants and refugees, since most of these baptisms are of people from Africa, Latin America, and Asia. What do you think? This question is addressed to anyone.

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  5. Is there any sense of what percent of the membership loss in the US is due to administrative changes(removing children of record not baptized by 8 years of age) vs. people having their names removed from the records? I ask because in my church experience in Northern New Jersey, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Toledo, and Seattle very few people have their names removed or are removed from the membership roles. There were one or two in the 4 years we lived in Seattle.

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    1. Members of record age 9 and up and not baptized are not included in ward or branch statistics. Don't know how that applies to the actual total membership number. However, they are kept on the records until age 18 at which time their membership is subject to cancellation if they are not baptized. 18 years old and not baptized has a process the Bishop is instructed to follow, with permission of the Stake President.

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    2. For what it's worth, many, many records of unbaptized children of record remain on the Church's rolls well after they turn 18. There are currently six on my ward roster and I think the youngest is 26. It is not normal practice to remove them unless the individual requests it.

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    3. Suggest you check the General Handbook as what I related is there.

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  6. I have a daughter originally from Liberia, who teaches nursing in Rwanda. I can believe the growth figures in Rwanda. She goes to monthly baptisms at the one church building with 9 branches in Kigali and there are 100-200 convert baptisms a month at the two to three baptismal ceremonies they have after church on Sundays. Recently they have started having baptismal ceremonies twice a month. They are currently building 4 chapels simultaneously in Kigali. She has brought 25 nurses to church with her in the last year and 7 have been baptized so far.

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  7. Very glad to see that we are not giving membership numbers in China, where I lived for 7 years in Shenzhen, Beijing, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia when I lived for 20 months in Riyadh and Jeddah. In both countries we are not legal as a church. There are only branches, except for Hong Kong which has stakes. I have been to Pakistan for business and have been to church in Lahore and Karachi a few times. The membership in China about 12,000; Pakistan about 5,000; Saudi Arabia about 400. There are also members in various countries in Central Asia, where we are only legal in Kazakhstan. I have been to church in Baku, Tashkent and Almaty where there are small branches and it is growing very slowly. One business in Vietnam in 2016, 2018, and 2021 the branches in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) were all growing and dividing. Sorry, I don't have reliable numbers for the membership in Central Asia or Vietnam.

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  8. Thanks so much for the data and the analysis. It seems very likely that the increase in US church growth in 2023 and 2024 and the decrease in 2025 are driven my immigration trends. It follows that the outsized growth in Mexico and other countries is at least partially due to immigration trends.

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    1. Excellent point about immigration trends being a major contributor to the US posting a net decrease this year.

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    2. I live in a ward in Minneapolis with another English speaking ward and a Spanish ward in our chapel where over 80% of the convert baptisms are immigrants and refugees from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. These three wards baptize about 4-5 people a month; half of them Spanish speaking. All three wards had reduced baptisms last year versus prior years. But all three wards to date this year have reached the number of baptisms we had last year. So there is an upswing. Don't know causation. The fourth ward that meets in our building has few immigrants in their ward boundaries and as a consequence 2 baptism on average a year. They use to have 0 on average 10 years ago, but demographic changes with more immigrants is gradually occurring in their ward, too. Yes, we have immigrants from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and the UK in our ward boundaries, and last year baptized an immigrant from Syria.

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  9. Alabama
    41,252
    13
    Alaska
    33,987
    -413
    Arizona
    442,094
    -2695
    Arkansas
    38,035
    511
    California
    725,648
    -2,991
    Colorado
    148,945
    -777
    Connecticut
    16,442
    76
    Deleware
    6,018
    153
    D.C.
    3,648
    311
    Flordia
    178,456
    2,165
    Georgia
    92,581
    -2
    Hawaii
    76,357
    Idaho
    482,905
    1,856
    Illinois
    58,832
    -54
    Indiana
    48,878
    27
    Iowa
    29,981
    219
    Kansas
    39,838
    -165
    Kentucky
    39,792
    -83
    louisiana
    29,913
    -163
    maine
    11,275
    -109
    maryland
    44,671
    22
    massachusetts
    29,541
    601
    michigan
    47,105
    258
    minnostoa
    34,002
    -110
    mississippi
    22,000
    -402
    missouri
    84,311
    1,098
    montana
    52,050
    -396
    nebraska
    26,199
    -100
    nevada
    181,842
    -1,255
    New Hampshire
    8,575
    -138
    New Jersey
    36,632
    258
    New Mexico
    68,699
    -752
    New York
    92,133
    1,499
    North Carolina
    98,483
    830
    North Dakota
    11,807
    -89
    Ohio
    65,991
    182
    Oklahoma
    53,890
    276
    Oregon
    148,062
    -2394
    Pennsylvania
    54,354
    339
    Rhode Island
    5,025
    164
    south carolina
    46,753
    167
    south dakota
    12,064
    85
    tennessee
    61,991
    1,126
    texas
    395,964
    3,564
    utah
    2,206,370
    1,236
    vermont
    4,685
    38
    virginia
    99,973
    58
    washington
    278,576
    -3,690
    west virginia
    17,663
    -99
    wisconsin
    28,950
    209
    wyoming
    66,665
    -853



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  10. While reviewing this weekends' Stake Conferences, i found the Ammon Idaho Stake (503789) with 7 Wards, has conference this weekend 04/11-4/12, and a second on a month from now on 05/16-05/17. The same date as the Ammon Idaho North Stake (568961), with 12 Wards. I wonder what the chances of a 3rd Stake (3x6=18)?

    https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/503789
    https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/568961

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  11. Also found the Hickory North Carolina Stake (515728), with 6 Wards and 1 Branch, has conference this weekend, 4/11-4/12, and again a month from now on 5/16--5/17, the same day as its neighbor to the east, the Winston-Salem North Carolina Stake (510033), with 8 Wards and 4 Branches. Between both, also 19 Congregations. I wonder the possibility of a 3rd Stake (3x6=18). Like the Ammon Idaho area.

    https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/515728
    https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/510033

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  12. Do we have a number on convert baptisms for the USA?

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    Replies
    1. I only know the church publishing only worldwide totals. I know missions will sometimes advertise it individually, but I don't know where this would be broken down by region or country.

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    2. i list all the us states with how many people they added for the year

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  13. Saw Russia has 18,000 members. While last year I think was 4999 or maybe it was the year before---2023. Anyone have any information on this?

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  14. Thought I would share an interesting development. We have a sister in our ward who is in Zimbabwe right now visiting family. She is living far from the closest church so she has been watching our Zoom sacrament meetings. Some people that she knows joined her a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. She now has over 20 people in a remote area listening in. Unfortunately they are too far for missionaries to visit right now but it is amazing what technology and one willing person can do in spreading the gospel.

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  15. For those following local (USA) congregation changes, here's a few name changes and realignments i just found in both the Fayetteville North Carolina Stake (507709) and Sandhills (ex-Fayetteville NC West) North Carolina Stake (460230). Changed within the last 9 months +/-.

    From Fayetteville North Carolina Stake (507709):
    1) Fayetteville 1st Ward (82074) - > renamed Fayetteville Ward (82074)
    2) Fayetteville 4th Ward (188743) - > renamed Eastover Ward (188743)
    3) Fayetteville 3rd Ward (109835) - > renamed Morganton Road Ward (109835) - > transferred from Sandhills North Carolina Stake (460230)

    https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/507709
    https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/460230

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  16. With another mission opening in Zimbabwe it might soon be possible to send missionaries to where Downtown Chris's friend is.

    The membership change in any area is +move in + convert baptisms +new children of record -move outs - deaths -people whose names are removed from records either by their own request or because or removal of membership -children of record turning 9 not baptized. Move ins and move outs do not factor into the worldwide total, but they do factor into totals for any unit below the worldwide level. The US had net negative migration in 2025.

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  17. Technically my last comment ignored one other record factor. Another cause of record loss is deaths or move outs that occurred in another year but were not discovered until the year in question.

    It looks like 20% of all the total growth of the Church happened in Mexico and Brazil. Our general assumption in the past has been that most members stay in the same country most of their life. We know this is not actually true. However members moving in and out of countries may be a bigger factor than we admit in our analysis.

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    Replies
    1. On a macro level that may be true, but not that much. In the Twin Cities five stakes, members moving from other countries is less than five percent of the overall growth. In our stake of nine units we had in 2025 a member family from Ghana, a single male from Sierre Leone, a single female from Kenya. There are some stakes that report no members migrating from outside the USA.
      I think, and this is not just my opinion, but based on migration studies, that the number of people doing interstate migration will continue to increase as it has since the 1960s. This has only accelerated since the 1990s due a few factors: more information of conditions in other parts of the world, increased civil wars, increased climate change issues(flooding, droughts, subsidence).

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  18. Can someone clarify whether children of record (blessed as a baby) are included in the membership totals? I assumed only members confirmed as members of the Church are included in that total.

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    1. Yes they are included in total membership before baptism. Just looked, 20% of our wards membership is under 8, though we are a pretty young ward. If they never get baptized I believe their records are removed at the age of 18.

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    2. My understanding is that children of record are included until their 9th birthday. If they are not baptized by that day they are no longer on records. This policy was put in place in the 1980s or maybe 1990s. Before that urbanized children of record were left on records until age 18.

      At the same time a child baptized at age 9 is always counted as a convert. Some of the less than expected growth is that some convert baptisms were in the previous year's count as children orlf record. I baptized at least 4 children like this on my mission. I only had 3 adult males baptized on my mission.

      There was a time in the 1990s when we had a fast to help the missionaries baptize more adult males in Detroit. This is no longer the issue. Our biggest issue is the most promising adult males we baptize tend to move out of Detroit.

      We did just have a couple who are both fairly recent converts, the husband was baptized in 2022 and the now wife in about 2017, get married in the temple in my branch.

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  19. Any insight on the increased growth in France and Germany due to baptizing immigrants. I remember a million Syrians 10 years ago arriving in Germany. We baptize one of these Syrians, who then migrated to Minneapolis in 2021 from Germany to start working on a doctorate in engineering at the University of Minnesota, 18 months ago.

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    1. About have my stake is in Germany. My country (Switzerland) has seen similar trends than Germany. My stake saw a lot of immigrant baptims last year, but not just immigrants. Immigrants have arrived in Germany, France, Switzerland and other Western European countries during the last decade. But why now a lot more are coming to church and get baptised, i do not know. Baptisms in my stake trippled last year over good years in the 2010s. This trend is continuing in 2026 so far. My ward had often between 10 and 15 nonmembers attending this year. I heard from another ward in the stake that one sunday they had 40. That means that around a third of the peeple attending that sunday where friends of the missionaries.

      The only reason I can see that might cause this trend, is the Ukraine war and other recent crises. This led to an increasing interes in religon among the younger gererations (18-25).

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    2. Miro, thank you. It is good to hear. We have had Ukrainians visit our ward since 2023. I gave a Book of Mormon in Russian to a Ukrainian who came to install some new fiber optic cable last week. In 2024, I gave away two Ukrainian and one English Book of Mormon to Ukrainian plumbers. One had been here 10 years, another 8 years, and third had just come from the war three weeks before. In 2025 I gave two Russian Book of Mormon to one person from Ukraine working on my car and another from Moscow who was older and also escaping the war.

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  20. Missoula Grounbreaking Announced!

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2026/04/13/missoula-montana-temple-groundbreaking-announced/

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  21. The Oran Argentina District and the Tartagal Argentina District will be combined this upcoming weekend to form the Tartagal Argentina Stake.

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  22. In Georgia, we are having a special stake conference on May 3. This involves the Marietta and Cartersville stakes. Roswell steak adjacent to Marietta is having their stake conference this weekend. Marietta has 10 wards and Roswell has nine.

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  23. Belo Horizonte, Miraflores Guatemala City and Managua Temples have dedication dates. Elder Gong will dedicate Guatemala City. I forget who is assigned for Managua and Belo Horizonte is unannounced. I hope they have Elder Soares do Belo Horizonte. I have to admit I only partially understand why they just don't have Elder Soares dedicate all the temples in Brazil or at least those in his home city or in his mission. More than half of Brazil was in Elder Soares' mission.

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  24. The Mozambique Beira Mission (2141949), recently organized the "Quelimane Mozambique District (2327767)"

    Quelimane Mozambique District | Meetinghouse Locator
    https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2327767

    listed online with just 1 branch at time of this email.

    Samugue Branch (2327759)

    https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/missions/2141949

    Although, I'm sure the Quelimane Branch of the Mission will be later added.

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    1. Things seem to update slowly in Mozambique. By my count, there are at least 8 wards that have likely been formed, but have not yet appeared on the meetinghouse locator, from the many new recent stakes in the Beira mission.

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  25. Great analysis, news, and comments. Thanks all. My ward has baptized over a dozen in the last two years but most are less active. Most have been men. Some have moved away. The Church continues to grow in Muslim areas, like Turkey and Azerbaijan. Central Asia is coming along.
    California is amazing to me, how there are fewer wards and stakes than decades ago but the temples keep getting built.
    How soon till we get a temple announcement? I think at least one in May or June, 2026.

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    1. One of the stats that has been spoken of in church news articles the past couple of years is the percent of members within 200 miles of a temple. Back in 2022 they hit 85%, and I'm sure that number is getting larger as more of the announced ones go through the pipeline.

      In the past it was much more specific of needing X number of stakes, membership, tithing faithfulness, etc. so they would be busy and not under utilized. Now I think they are fine opening temples that aren't expected to operate at capacity 24/7, but still cut down the time and increase the temple attendance of those outside of the western corridor.

      California is certainly decreasing in members, but they may still have large swaths of saints that are distance burdened that are still benefitting. Stocks are back to all-time highs and the church has been selling off increasing portions of their portfolio, so sounds like it is being put to good use.

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  26. In North Carolina, the Hickory stake is forming a Spanish branch called Hickory Lakes, the Mount Airy stake will be created in the next few weeks and will take the Wilkesboro ward from Hickory.
    Also in the St. Cloud, Florida stake, the Boggy Creek ward was created.

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    1. A Mount Airy stake is wild! My family is from there and it's crazy to think the church has grown enough there for a stake.

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  27. An second branch was formed in the Galapagos Islands recently, the San Cristobal Branch. Just an interesting development.

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  28. I do not have time at the moment to do this, and I will be posting the congregational data by country for 2025 later this evening, but a second branch was created in Guinea-Bissau. The first branch was created in Bissau just last year. The creation of a second mission in Cape Verde is likely going to help expand missionary efforts in Guinea-Bissau.

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    1. Also, just to the northwest of Bissau, the Dakar Senegal District (2196352), organized its 6th branch this week, the Keur Massar Branch (2327112).
      122 Apr 15, 2026 Keur Massar Branch. So, well on the way to becoming the 1st Stake in Senegal, in West Africa.

      https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2196352

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  29. People who are urbanized after age 8 may or may not be on records but they are not counted. Unless they are deemed not accountable to be baptized.

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    1. Sorry, please clarify or say it again is a clearer manner.

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  30. New Area presidencies were announed. Counselors are no longer given numbers. Some areas now have 3 counselors. That is the main set of changes.

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