While wandering about online, I came across this site that purports to be statistics plotted on X-Y charts about very interesting LDS growth/apostasy/etc numbers. I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it's interesting nonetheless:

http://www.fullerconsideration.com/membership.php

I'd personally like to see per capita income plotted against apostasy and decline rates and projected income growth just in tithing alone, not counting real estate/other investments.

Have a lovely day!

Thanks, exmointexas! Great info, if correct!

The activity rate comports with my experience as a Ward Clerk in the early 1990s, remarks given by a visiting official during that time and the powerpoint accidentally released last year.

What is this powerpoint of which you speak?

It is rather interesting that, according to this source, convert baptisms topped out in 1990! So much for the "fastest growing church" myth.

So I guess they had "Peak Conversion" already.

Now they're FRACKING for members in 3rd world countries.

This shows what many have suspected, that the growth of active members has been pretty stagnant since the late 90's. Since Mormons are still having lots of kids that must mean many are choosing to leave if the growth of active members is way below the lds birth rate.

And there's a huge growth of inactive members since about the 1980's. I think most of them are the quick baptisms that missionaries in most countries did. People who were just quickly dunked by charismatic or pushy missionaries and never really considered themselves Mormon, even though they're on the books. I know I'm partly responsible for that big hike in inactives. I baptized almost 80 people in Chile. None are active.

I remember hearing stories about the church booming in Chile, 5% of the population were LDS, etc... It sound like they probably have the highest rate of "inactivity" in the world.

I went to Brazil and heard stories of the church booming there, missionaries baptizing hundreds, etc... I got there and my entire mission had ~1,000 active members, none of the wards/branches had enough men, and most missionaries baptized 4-6...all individuals, no families. Besides a few cities, the church is practically non-existent in Brazil, even though the church claims a million members there.

In recent years, it seems like the number of BIC members leaving has spiked. It's not just recent converts not sticking around anymore, long-time, tithe-paint members are jumping ship.

I think active church membership has peaked. Deaths, resignations, those quietly leaving, etc... have to be outpacing births and convert retention.

Even with the addition of lots of Utah transplants, the area I grew up in has seen no growth in 20+ years...no new wards, stakes, etc... My parent's ward is a third of the size it was, there are half a dozen primary kids, half a dozen youth, etc... You can bet that none of those kids are going to stick around when they grow up.

bender Wrote:
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> And there's a huge growth of inactive members
> since about the 1980's. I think most of them are
> the quick baptisms that missionaries in most
> countries did.

Could be. Since that also corresponds with the spread of the internet, it could also be formerly active members finding out their church isn't what it claims to be from the internet :)

I know it's impossible, but I wish there was more information about that huge rise of inactives. New converts who never become active members, don't really hurt the Mormon church. They just become part of the wildly inflated numbers. Lifelong tithe paying members, who leave, and the children of lifelong tithe paying members who leave, are the most damaging thing to the Mormon church and the biggest worry of it's leaders.

Mormons are NOT still having large families. The decline in the rate of births is half of the reason for fewer members and the aging of the Mormon population explains the rising death rate. A religion based on a pyramid scheme will collapse as it no longer grows - resulting in fewer leadership positions, etc. Right now the resulting reduction has meant not only fewer positions in the future but the declining portion who are young results in fewer men available. Once aging really sets in, the decline will speed up. What is interesting in the decline inevitable in TSCC is that it has the additional effect of people recognizing its falseness - especially the brighter members leaving. Even rats leave a sinking ship.

Well, I guess that answers whether they count us in their big 16 million that they like to spout off.

16 million total, 10 million inactive, 2 million former members and..... drum roll please..... 4 million (25%) active members. And you know that a very large percentage of those inactive members live outside the U.S. Yup. Fastest growing church in the world. 'Cept not.

I have problems accepting some of the numbers. Big problem with the "LDS Activity Rate" chart. It is showing that in the 1920's and 1930's, the activity rate was 90% and 99%, for all of 20 years. I find that exceedingly hard to believe.

Of the 25% active, how many attend due to family/social pressure?

The active membership peaked in 1995 with 5.2 million active members. The active membership of the LDS Church flat-lined in 1997 at 4.5 million. In the past 17 years they have managed to bring that up to 4.8 million. That is a growth rate of 48 active members a day. This is bad news for the LDS considering that the active members are now mostly kids who don't have a choice in the matter and will quit the LDS when they leave their home.