The Top Nine Countries with the Most Stakes with Only One Temple

Overview 

The following list highlights the nine countries with the most Latter-day Saint stakes that currently have only one temple—either dedicated or announced. Stakes are among the most reliable predictors of temple announcements, as they reflect sufficient membership, activity, and leadership to sustain both stake and temple operations. In recent years, due to the Church’s rapid pace of temple construction, all countries with at least 24 stakes now have multiple temples announced or dedicated. This is not a traditional “Top 10” list, as four additional countries or territories (American Samoa, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Switzerland) each have five stakes and one temple. Including them would extend the list to 13 entries, so this post focuses on the nine countries with the highest stake counts under that threshold. Countries with the Most Stakes and Only One Temple (Dedicated or Announced)

Country	Stakes	Districts	Notes
Côte d’Ivoire	23	8	Most likely to receive a second temple; Yamoussoukro or western Abidjan are likely candidates
Nicaragua	12	4	Low growth in recent years may delay second temple; nearly all stakes are in Managua
Paraguay	11	9	Stakes are concentrated in Asunción
Sierra Leone	11	3	Bo, with 4 stakes, is a strong candidate for a future temple
Zimbabwe	11	2	Bulawayo (3 stakes) is the top prospect for a second temple
Costa Rica	10	1	Nearly all stakes are in San José
France	10	0	Southern France (e.g., Toulouse) could be considered for a future temple
Panama	7	4	Slow growth; second temple unlikely soon as nearly all stakes are in Panama City
Liberia	7	2	Likely remains a one-temple country for the near future, as all stakes are in Monrovia

Outlook 

Among these, Côte d'Ivoire is by far the most promising candidate for a second temple due to its high number of stakes and geographic spread. Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe follow, based on stake density outside the capital. France also presents a realistic medium-term possibility, while other nations may require more growth and geographic diversification to warrant an additional temple.

New Stake in France

Last Sunday, the Church created a new stake in France.  Contrary to some missionary reports I received, only one new stake was organized and I apologize for the misinformation.  The Paris France South Stake was organized from a realignment of the Angers France, Paris France, and Paris France East Stakes and includes the following five wards and five branches: Antony, Évry, Le Mans, Melun, and Orléans Wards and the Alençon, Blois, Bourges, Chartres and Tours Branches.  The Church consolidated the Lorient France District with the renamed Angers France Stake (Rennes France Stake) and none of the six branches in the former district became wards.  The Bordeaux France Stake also gained two units that previously pertained to the original Angers France Stake.  With the realignment of stakes and the creation of the new stake, there are now no member districts in France. 

Currently there are 10 stakes in France.  Missionaries report that groundbreaking on the Paris France Temple may occur in the coming weeks.

Two New Stakes to be Created in France

Missionaries serving in France report that the Church will organize two new stakes in a couple weeks within the boundaries of the France Paris Mission.  Missionary reports indicate that the Church will realign stakes in the Paris area to create a third stake in Paris and that the Lorient France District will also become a stake.  The Angers France Stake appears like to be affected by the creation of these two stakes and several congregations in the Angers France Stake will likely to reassigned to one of the new stakes.

Currently there are nine stakes and one district in France.

LDS Temple Announced for Paris, France

Earlier today LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson announced plans for the Church to construct its first temple in France in the capital city of Paris.  The first proposal for an LDS temple in France was made by President Gordon B. Hinckley in 1998 when he visited with French members and stated that membership in France had reached the needed numbers and maturity to merit the construction of a temple but that the Church was unable to allocate land (see Ensign article).  Rumors have been ongoing for over a decade regarding potential land purchases and speculation as to where a temple would be constructed.  Prior to today's announcement, France was the country with the second most Latter-day Saints without an LDS temple after Nicaragua.

At the end of 2010 there were 35,960 Latter-day Saints on church records in France.  Currently there are nine stakes, one district, and 110 congregations.  LDS Church growth trends in France have been relatively stagnant over the past decade as the number of LDS congregations declined in France from 125 to 110 and annual membership growth rates generally ranged from 1% to 1.5%.  France is better reached by the LDS Church than most Western European countries as 47% of the French population resides in cities with LDS congregations (compared to 41.5% for the region).  The LDS Church in France ties with Spain for the country in Western Europe with the third lowest estimated member activity rate (24%).  For more information on church growth trends, LDS Church history in France, and the outlook for future growth visit the France country profile written by me and David Stewart.

Currently there are 161 LDS temples announced, operating, or under construction.  With the announcement of the Paris France Temple, there are now 15 temples in Europe announced, operating, or under construction.  The official statement by the Church can be found here.

Districts Discontinued in France and Nicaragua

France

Formerly consisting of six branches, the Caen France District was discontinued and branches in the district were absorbed under the Paris France Stake (Caen, Le Havre, and Rouen Branches), Angers France Stake (Alencon Branch), and the France Paris Mission (Cherbourg and Coutances Branches).  Missionaries report that there had been efforts for the district to become a stake one day, but inadequate numbers of members, activity rates, and distance between congregations were persistent obstalces.  There are now nine stakes and one district in France.

Nicaragua

A district was discontinued in Nicaragua.  Comprising of three branches, the Rivas Nicaragua District was discontinued, the Moyogalpa Branch was closed, and the two remaining branches in Rivas now report directly to the Nicaragua Managua South Mission.  Currently no additional districts appear likely to be formed or closed in Nicaragua.  There are now nine stakes and six districts.

France Toulouse and Switzerland Geneva Missions to consolidate into the France Lyon Mission this July

Missionaries report that the France Toulouse Mission and Switzerland Geneva Mission will combine into a single mission this July.  The mission will be renamed the France Lyon Mission and administer LDS missionary work throughout southern France and Francophone Switzerland.  Some areas will also reportedly be transferred over to the France Paris Mission as part of the consolidation.

This mission consolidation as well as others that will occur this July are part of a redistribution of mission resources from less productive, more self-reliant areas to more receptive, less self-sufficient areas and also represents the challenge of expanding mission outreach worldwide with a finite number of LDS missionaries.  The consolidation of missions in less productive nations often does not significantly affect the number of convert baptisms and often convert retention rates remain constant or improve as a result of greater involvement of local members in mission activity.  Consequently, we are most likely to see additional mission consolidations in North America and Europe in the coming years.  The primary reasons for the limited number of LDS missionaries include a decline in LDS birth rates in the United States, consistently low rates of North American members serving full-time missions (where the bulk of the LDS missionary force originates), and the failure of developing totally self-sufficient missionary manpower in the nations which draw the greatest numbers of missionary resources.  In 2010, all new missions that were organized were created in nations which have seen increasing numbers of full-time missionaries serve or supply a large number of full-time missionaries, such as Guatemala, Mexico, the DR Congo, and Nicaragua.  Below are a list of some potential new missions we may see organized in the coming years.

• Angola Luanda
• Brazil Fortaleza South
• Cameroon Yaounde
• Ethiopia Addis Ababa
• Ghana Kumasi
• Mexico Toluca
• Peru Iquitos
• Tanzania Dar Es Salaam
• Togo Lome

Updated List of the Countries with the Most Members Without a Temple

Membership, stakes and districts, number of congregations, and temple(s) country is assigned to are provided below. The numbers in parenthesis indicate how many stakes and districts are assigned to the temple (stake, district).

1. Nicaragua

• - 59,886 members
• - 8 stakes, 6 districts
• - 90 congregations
• - Guatemala City Guatemala Temple (8,6)

2. Portugal

• - 38,100 members
• - 6 stakes, 4 districts
• - 75 congregations
• - Madrid Spain Temple (6,4)

3. France

• - 34,638 members
• - 9 stakes, 2 districts
• - 117 congregations
• - Bern Switzerland Temple (5,0), Frankfurt Germany Temple (2,2), London England Temple (1,0), Madrid Spain Temple (1,0)
  

4. Puerto Rico

• - 19,808 members
• - 5 stakes, 2 districts
• - 43 congregations
• - Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple (5,2)

5. Russia

• - 19,583 members
• - 15 districts
• - 129 congregations
• - Helsinki Finland Temple (0,15)

6. Democratic Republic of the Congo

• - 19,313 members
• - 5 stakes, 4 districts
• - 65 congregations
• - Johannesburg South Africa Temple (5,4)

7. Zimbabwe

• - 16,969 members
• - 3 stakes, 2 districts
• - 45 congregations
• - Johannesburg South Africa Temple (3,2)

8. Papua New Guinea

• - 16,060 members
• - 1 stake, 6 districts
• - 53 congregations
• - Sydney Australia Temple (1,6)

9. Thailand

• - 15,457 members
• - 1 stake, 5 districts
• - 39 congregations
• - Hong Kong China Temple (1,5)

10. American Samoa

• - 14,514 members
• - 4 stakes
• - 36 congregations
• - Apia Samoa Temple (4,0)
  

The Church in France

France is one of the first countries in Europe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was established in. As of the end of 2006, there were almost 34,000 members. Today there are nine stakes and two districts in the country. There is no temple in France, but President Hinckley told members in a meeting five or so years ago that a temple will someday be built. There are only two missions in France now. Even though there has been a dramatic drop in the number of branches in the country (from 82 in 2000 to 63 in 2006), new branches have been created in the past few years in places where branches did not function previously (Like the city of Gap). Wards have also increased during this time period from 43 to 61. So the overall number of units has not really changed since 2000. As for possible new stakes, the Nice France Stake is rather large and could split someday (it's had around 10 wards and a few branches, but for quite sometime). Yellow squares represent wards; green squares represent branches.

Potential Temple Sites

Below is a list of cities around the world (excluding the continental United States) which I believe are close to having a temple announced in them. I am not claiming that this is a definite list; just predictions of likely future temples. I have them ordered starting from the most likely to be announced as the next new temple. Temple attendance indicated by the number of sessions provided daily, the number of stakes assigned to, and distance of existing stakes to existing temples in the region are some of the tools I use to predict these new temple sites. Furthermore, this list is dynamic and subject to change. The numbers in parenthesis next to the predicted temple are the number of stake and districts that would be probable in the predict temple's temple district. Example: Brasilia (11,3) (11 stakes, 3 districts). The bold number at the end of the line is the number of stakes located in the metropolitan area where the predicted temple would be.

1. Fortaleza, Brazil (16,3) 11
2. Rio De Janiero, Brazil (22,9) 10
3. Trujillo, Peru (20,9) 7
4. Puebla, Mexico (21,3) 8
5. Bangkok, Thailand (1,21) 1
6. Paris, France (9,2) 2
7. Rome, Italy (5,12) 1
8. Concepcion, Chile (18,11) 9
9. Lisbon, Portugal (6,10) 2
10. Arequipa, Peru (17,11) 6

Other temples which are likely to be announced are Brasilia Brazil, Belo Horizonte Brazil, Salvador Brazil, Tarawa Kiribati, Dagupan Philippines, Culiacan Mexico, Managua Nicaragua, Quito Ecuador, Cordoba Argentina, and San Jose Puerto Rico. The United States has many temples which are not too far away for most members. Most likely temple sites in the United States include Kansas City Missouri, Pocatello Idaho and Tucson Arizona.

Countries with the most members without a temple

Here is a list of the top 10 countries which do not have a temple. Information is provided about the number of units in each country as well as a ratio of the number of members per unit. Data is from Dec. 31st, 2006 or more recent. Maps for each country showing stakes and mission districts for countries with a membership over 20,000 and wards and branches for nations with a membership under 20,000 are also provided and are current as of the date of this blog entry. Yellow squares are stakes; green squares are mission districts.
If you click on the map, it will open up in a new window and be much clearer.








1. Nicaragua – 55,369 members

8 stakes
6 districts
46 wards
44 branches
1 mission
615 members per unit

2. Portugal – 38,130 members

6 stakes
4 districts
34 wards
43 branches
2 missions
495 members per unit

3. France – 33,828 members

9 stakes
2 districts
61 wards
63 branches
2 missions
277 member per unit

4. Italy – 22,212 members

5 stakes
9 districts
25 wards
79 branches
3 missions
213 members per unit

5. Puerto Rico – 19,609 members

5 stakes
2 districts
27 wards
15 branches
2 missions
445 members per unit

NO MAP AVAILABLE YET

6. Russia – 19,180 members

0 stakes
15 districts
0 wards
121 branches
8 missions
158 members per unit

7. DR of Congo – 18,276 members

4 stakes
4 districts
43 wards
17 branches
1 mission
305 members per unit

8. Zimbabwe – 16,240 members

2 stakes
2 districts
18 wards
27 branches
1 mission
360 members per unit

9. Papua New Guinea – 15,517 members

1 stake
8 districts
5 wards
48 branches
1 mission
292 members per unit

10. Thailand – 15,108 members

1 stake
5 districts
7 wards
32 branches
1 mission
387 members per unit