Demographics
In the United States the LDS Church is the 4th largest individual denomination with over 6 million members, a population about equal to the number of Muslims.
Only 12% of all Mormons live in Utah. Most Mormons do not live in the United States.
Aside from the United States, other regions with significant Mormon populations include Mexico and Asia (1 million members each), South America (3 million members), and Central America and Europe (about half a million each). The rapid growth the Church has been experiencing in Africa, where there are already a quarter of a million members, is particularly exciting.
After Catholicism, the LDS Church is the largest sect in ten U.S. states.
One way to classify religions is by grouping them into religious alliances. Religious alliances include those churches with central leadership and doctrinal uniformity (e.g. the Catholic Church) as well as those that lack central leadership. An example of the latter type is the “Assembly of God alliance,” which is comprised of many churches that are generally classified together even though each congregation has autonomy to teach as it pleases.
The LDS Church is the 15th largest religious alliance in the world and the 8th largest international religious alliance.
When one considers only religious bodies, i.e. those religions with central leadership and doctrinal unity:
The LDS Church is the 9th largest religious body in the world and the 4th largest international religious body.
(Note that for some religions, particularly the Eastern Orthodox Church, classification as a unified religious body was hard to determine.)
It is also interesting to consider those religions that are the most ubiquitous (meaning most likely to have a meeting place "near you").
The LDS Church is the 5th most ubiquitous religious alliance in the world and the 4th most ubiquitous religious body.
LDS Worldwide Statistics (Note: theses numbers are old):
- Tonga: 32.0%
- Samoa: 25.0%
- American Samoa: 25.0%
- Niue: 15.0%
- Kiribati: 6.0%
- Tahiti: 6.0%
- Cook Islands: 5.0%
- Marshall Islands: 4.0%
- Chile: 2.5%
- Palau: 2.0%
- USA: 1.9%
- Uruguay: 1.8%
- New Zealand: 1.5%
- Guatemala: 1.3%
- Honduras: 1.2%
- Bolivia: 1.1%
- Ecuador: 1.1%
- Peru: 1.1%
- Belize: 1.1%
- As of 2010:
- USA: 6,145,000
- Mexico: 1,235,000
- Brazil: 1,139,000
- Chile: 564,000
- Philippines: 646,000
- Peru: 494,000
- Argentina: 389,000
- United Kingdom: 187,000
- Guatemala: 226,000
- Canada: 182,500
LDS U.S. Statistics (2000):
- Utah: 66.4%
- Idaho: 24.1%
- Wyoming: 9.5%
- Nevada: 4.6%
- Arizona: 4.0%
- Montana: 3.3%
- Oregon: 3.0%
- Alaska: 3.0%
- Washington: 3.0%
- Hawaii: 2.7%
- Utah: 1,483,858
- California: 529,575
- Idaho: 311,425
- Arizona: 251,974
- Washington: 178,000
- Texas: 155,451
- Nevada: 116,925
- Oregon: 104,312
- Colorado: 92,326
- Florida: 75,620
Worldwide, there are over 29,000 LDS congregations, and the basic Church curriculum text is available in over 175 languages. The Church creates about two new congregations every day.
There are estimated to be between 350,000 and 500,000 members of the Church with African heritage, though exact numbers are unknown because the Church does not keep track of the race of its members. About 150,000 live in Africa, 10,000 (or more) in Brazil, 20,000 in the Caribbean, and perhaps as many as 50,000 in the U.S.
70% of Mormons worldwide were not born into the faith.
The growth of the LDS Church is exponential and among the fastest of any denomination on the planet.
In the last 50 years, membership has increased ten-fold.
For the last 15 years, an average of 800 people have joined the LDS Church every day.
Absolute growth is greatest in Latin America, but the rate of growth is highest in Africa and the former Soviet bloc.
In 1984, a prominent non-LDS researcher estimated that membership would top 265 million by 2080 and said the Church would be the “first 'new' major world religion since Islam.” So far, growth has exceeded his model's predictions.
Some surveys suggest that the LDS Church has the highest U.S. attendance and service rates.
See Also
For sources, see AllAboutMormons.com
