Posted by:
Brother Of Jerry
(
)
Date: November 13, 2021 03:24PM
Canada does a major census on the years that end in 1, and a minor one on the years that end in 6. One of the categories they have in the major census is a section on religious affiliation.
The US census does not ask about religious affiliation, which is unfortunate, because it would provide objective information on the grossly inflated membership numbers that LDS Inc provides.
A number of other countries ask about religious affiliation, but what makes Canada particularly interesting, from an RFM point of view is that the Mormon population in Canada is concentrated in Alberta, and a large percentage of the Mormons there have at least some family roots going back to the Brigham Young era. That means the Alberta Mormons can serve as a pretty accurate religious and cultural proxy for multigenerational US Mormons in the intermountain west.
In other countries with significant Mormon populations, the families joined the LDS Church within living memory.
In particular, we can compare the number and location of self-identified Canadian Mormons from one census to the next. The scheduled release date for “ethnocultural and religious composition” data is October 26, 2022, so just under a year from now. Woo Hoo!