LDS Apostle Visits Guinea, Mali, and Senegal

Elder David A. Bednar became the first LDS apostle to visit the West African nations of Guinea, Mali, and Senegal on a recent trip to the region between May 21st-23rd. A recent article on the Ghana Mormon Newsroom site reported that Elder Bednar met with members of the Dakar Branch in Senegal and offered a special prayer in which he appeared to dedicate the country for missionary work. Elder Bednar also visited with a group of 17 Latter-day Saints and 250 prospective members in the rural village of Tabakoro, Mali. There are now two member groups that operate in Mali at present, including another group that has functioned for several years in Ouélessébougou. Unfortunately, the article does not give any information regarding the Church or Elder Bednar's visit to Guinea. This visit may signal plans in the near future to officially establish LDS congregations in Mali and Guinea, and begin formal missionary activity in Senegal. Currently there are seven West African nations without an official LDS presence, including Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger.

Countries and Territories without an LDS presence

One of the topics that Latter-day Saints frequently ask is, "in what countries is the LDS Church still not established?" Answering this question is not simple as a "presence" is difficult to define. For example, the LDS Church maintains independent congregations in several Middle Eastern nations which it publicly discloses yet no missionary activity occurs such as the United Arab Emirates. Other nations have several independent congregations led by local leaders yet the Church does not publicly publish its presence, such as Pakistan. Then there are other nations which have no independent congregations but have groups which operate under LDS congregations based in other countries (such as mission or area branches)

Below is a map of countries and territories around the world which have no known Latter-day Saint congregations of any kind at present and which receive no known LDS mission outreach. Larger countries and territories are indicated by red polygons whereas smaller countries and territories are indicated by place markers. 29 countries and 12 territories appear to have no LDS congregations and receive no mission outreach.


View Countries and Territories Without an LDS Presence in a larger map

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: An International Church

I wanted to take time to write concerning the demographics of the Church and what Church Leaders have said concerning its status internationally. President Hinckley and other General Authorities have in recent years declared that the Church's demography is spread all across the globe. President Monson stated in the past week in a press conference, "How grateful we are for the dedication, the faith and the strength of the people of this Church who now number more than 13 million in 176 nations and territories throughout the world. Our membership continues to grow steadily." Clearly the Church has spread itself accross the majority of the countries of the world. However, Church membership is by no means evenly distributed across the countries of the world.
Now for some statistics. A little over 84% of Church membership resides in North and South America (including the Caribbean) and almost 86% of the Church's stakes. Out of the 125 currently operating temples, 31 are outside of North and South America. The Church has established itself in every country in the Western Hemisphere (excluding Cuba) and the Southern Hemisphere (except East Timor, Rwanda, Burundi, The Seychelles, and Comoros). In Europe, the Church has a presence in every country except Macedonia and Bosnia (from what I have found).
This post is by no means criticizing anything Church leaders have said, but rather I am making a point that although we do have members residing in most of the countries of the world, most of the members live in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Something I have found interesting is how well the Church has grown in island nations. For example, the country in Africa with the highest percentage of members is Cape Verde and is around 2% and the country with the second highest is less than 0.2%. The countries which have the highest percentage of members are island nations concentrated in the South Pacific like Tonga (46%) and Samoa (36%). The Church has grown the most in Europe in the British Isles with over 100,000 members more than the country in Europe with the second most members (Spain with around 41,000 members). The Philippines has the most members out of any of the countries in the Eastern Hemisphere with around 600,000. I believe this is a fulfillment of prophesy in 1 Nephi 19:16, "Yea, then will he remember the isles of the sea."

Here is a list of all of the countries in the Northern part of the Eastern Hemisphere with no Church presence. I define this as meaning no branches established and no membership reported. Countries in italics means that the country is predominantly Muslim (which tend to not allow other religions to proselyte or publicly practice).

ASIA

Afghanistan
Azerbaijan
Bhutan
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
Kyryzstan
Maldives
Oman
Qatar
Syria
Turkmenistan
Yemen
Myanmar
Brunei
North Korea
Uzbekistan

Africa

Algeria
Burkina Faso
Chad
Eretria
The Gambia
Guinea
Guniea-Bissau
Libya
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Niger
Senegal
Somalia
Sudan
Tunisia