See below for a graph that displays 2017 Human Development Index (HDI) and 2017 annual membership growth by country for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Click on the graph to enlarge it. HDI numbers were retrieved here. Annual membership growth rates were obtained from year-end 2016 and year-end 2017 membership data published by the Church. Only 132 countries were included in the analysis as these were the only nations for which 2016 and 2017 membership data and HDI figures were available. A correlation analysis of the two variables revealed a moderate negative relationship between HDI and annual membership growth rates for 2017 (r = -0.517). Therefore, we can conclude that HDI accounts for 26.7% of the shared variability between the two variables. Thus, higher levels of education, life expectancy, and standard of living are negatively correlated with annual membership growth rates in the Church. This finding supports more comprehensive work done by Ryan Cragun and Ronald Lawson regarding "The Secular Transition" of nations in which groups like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reports slower growth in high HDI countries in comparison to lower HDI countries.
| COUNTRY | HDI 2017 | MEMBERSHIP GROWTH 2017 |
| Albania | 0.785 | 4.09% |
| Angola | 0.581 | 15.78% |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 0.780 | 3.04% |
| Argentina | 0.825 | 1.62% |
| Armenia | 0.755 | -1.16% |
| Australia | 0.939 | 1.47% |
| Austria | 0.908 | 1.00% |
| Bahamas | 0.807 | 1.26% |
| Barbados | 0.800 | 4.18% |
| Belgium | 0.916 | -2.76% |
| Belize | 0.708 | 0.79% |
| Benin | 0.515 | 17.70% |
| Bolivia (Plurinational State of) | 0.693 | 2.02% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0.768 | 4.55% |
| Botswana | 0.717 | 4.36% |
| Brazil | 0.759 | 2.19% |
| Bulgaria | 0.813 | -0.45% |
| Burundi | 0.417 | 14.57% |
| Cambodia | 0.582 | 3.94% |
| Cameroon | 0.556 | 19.35% |
| Canada | 0.926 | 0.72% |
| Cape Verde | 0.654 | 5.19% |
| Central African Republic | 0.367 | 8.33% |
| Chile | 0.843 | 0.72% |
| Colombia | 0.747 | 1.95% |
| Congo (Democratic Republic of th | 0.457 | 9.16% |
| Congo | 0.606 | 4.51% |
| Costa Rica | 0.794 | 2.88% |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 0.492 | 10.88% |
| Croatia | 0.831 | 1.13% |
| Cyprus | 0.869 | 0.00% |
| Czechia | 0.888 | 1.84% |
| Denmark | 0.929 | 0.54% |
| Dominica | 0.715 | -2.42% |
| Dominican Republic | 0.736 | 2.15% |
| Ecuador | 0.752 | 1.79% |
| El Salvador | 0.674 | 1.03% |
| Estonia | 0.871 | -1.13% |
| Ethiopia | 0.463 | 0.37% |
| Fiji | 0.741 | 3.92% |
| Finland | 0.920 | -1.19% |
| France | 0.901 | 1.68% |
| Georgia | 0.780 | 1.13% |
| Germany | 0.936 | 0.06% |
| Ghana | 0.592 | 7.62% |
| Greece | 0.870 | 3.89% |
| Grenada | 0.772 | 2.16% |
| Guatemala | 0.650 | 1.86% |
| Guyana | 0.654 | 2.93% |
| Haiti | 0.498 | 3.24% |
| Honduras | 0.617 | 1.67% |
| Hong Kong, China (SAR) | 0.933 | -0.09% |
| Hungary | 0.838 | 0.42% |
| Iceland | 0.935 | 2.53% |
| India | 0.640 | 3.26% |
| Indonesia | 0.694 | 1.51% |
| Ireland | 0.938 | 2.28% |
| Israel | 0.903 | 11.63% |
| Italy | 0.880 | 1.41% |
| Jamaica | 0.732 | 1.24% |
| Japan | 0.909 | 0.37% |
| Kazakhstan | 0.800 | -7.08% |
| Kenya | 0.590 | 3.13% |
| Kiribati | 0.612 | 7.20% |
| Korea (Republic of) | 0.903 | 0.25% |
| Latvia | 0.847 | 0.65% |
| Lesotho | 0.520 | 8.19% |
| Liberia | 0.435 | 9.18% |
| Lithuania | 0.858 | -0.41% |
| Luxembourg | 0.904 | 5.34% |
| Madagascar | 0.519 | 4.77% |
| Malawi | 0.477 | 10.42% |
| Malaysia | 0.802 | 2.14% |
| Malta | 0.878 | 6.63% |
| Marshall Islands | 0.708 | -6.39% |
| Mauritius | 0.790 | 0.78% |
| Mexico | 0.774 | 1.30% |
| Micronesia (Federated States of) | 0.627 | 3.84% |
| Moldova (Republic of) | 0.700 | 4.79% |
| Mongolia | 0.741 | 1.79% |
| Montenegro | 0.814 | -17.39% |
| Mozambique | 0.437 | 15.18% |
| Namibia | 0.647 | -0.23% |
| Netherlands | 0.931 | 2.26% |
| New Zealand | 0.917 | 0.95% |
| Nicaragua | 0.658 | 2.89% |
| Nigeria | 0.532 | 7.09% |
| Norway | 0.953 | -0.22% |
| Palau | 0.798 | 1.98% |
| Panama | 0.789 | 5.23% |
| Papua New Guinea | 0.544 | 5.05% |
| Paraguay | 0.702 | 1.64% |
| Peru | 0.750 | 2.00% |
| Philippines | 0.699 | 2.61% |
| Poland | 0.865 | 2.22% |
| Portugal | 0.847 | 1.57% |
| Romania | 0.811 | -0.23% |
| Russian Federation | 0.816 | 0.31% |
| Rwanda | 0.524 | 52.82% |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 0.778 | -11.34% |
| Saint Lucia | 0.747 | 4.84% |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 0.723 | 4.59% |
| Samoa | 0.713 | 2.15% |
| Serbia | 0.787 | 2.72% |
| Sierra Leone | 0.419 | 10.03% |
| Singapore | 0.932 | -0.41% |
| Slovakia | 0.855 | 1.49% |
| Slovenia | 0.896 | -2.07% |
| Solomon Islands | 0.546 | 15.44% |
| South Africa | 0.699 | 2.54% |
| Spain | 0.891 | 2.51% |
| Sri Lanka | 0.770 | 5.22% |
| Suriname | 0.720 | 2.14% |
| Swaziland | 0.588 | 2.78% |
| Sweden | 0.933 | 0.74% |
| Switzerland | 0.944 | -2.29% |
| Tanzania (United Republic of) | 0.538 | 8.31% |
| Thailand | 0.755 | 3.88% |
| Togo | 0.503 | 8.68% |
| Tonga | 0.726 | 1.04% |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 0.784 | 0.29% |
| Turkey | 0.791 | 6.63% |
| Uganda | 0.516 | 5.42% |
| Ukraine | 0.751 | 0.63% |
| United Arab Emirates | 0.863 | 0.78% |
| United Kingdom | 0.922 | 0.54% |
| United States | 0.924 | 0.75% |
| Uruguay | 0.804 | 0.91% |
| Vanuatu | 0.603 | 11.13% |
| Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | 0.761 | 0.46% |
| Zambia | 0.588 | 7.25% |
| Zimbabwe | 0.535 | 6.41% |
