Just finished putting this together and wanted to share to see what people thought. I know there is usually a lot of discussion about what the church growth really is like, well, here it is according to the official numbers as reported in conference. There are some interesting trends here, especially of note is the consistent decrease in (estimated) active members over the last 40 years, the lack of increase (as would be projected or anticipated) in any of their growth numbers (births and converts haven't changed significantly in a long time), etc.

http://blacksheepamidstthecougars.blogspot.com/2013/04/interesting-statistics.html

Let me know if you notice anything that I didn't, or have any good explanations beyond that which I give (or even if you disagree with my thoughts).

Thanks for your charts which are interesting and overall show how the church isn't doing nearly as well as its growth in total membership numbers suggest.

How about a graph that shows membership as a percentage of the US or world populations? Interesting numbers, thanks for doing this.

...church growth follows global population growth. There are more Mormons (active or not) because there are more people everywhere.

In absolute numbers I am sure you are correct, but I wonder if the percentage of the population is steady or declining?

The story in the church is that it's growing at some wonderful, marvelous rate. The stone rolling forth yadda yadda yadda. But if the growth rate is no better than or less than the rate of global population growth, then it's a different story.

I don't doubt there are locations where the church is growing faster than the population. Africa, for example. But the church started from zero there only a generation ago. Percentage increases are more dramatic when you're dealing with small numbers. For example, if you start with one person and add another, woo-hoo, that's 100% growth.

And then there's the matter of where LDS membership is distributed in the world. Something like 70% (I'm going from memory here) of church membership is concentrated in five countries: US, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Philippines. The US has 6 million or so members on the books, and most of those are concentrated in the west. A county-by-county distribution map looks like a paint bomb was dropped on Provo and splattered across the rest of the country, with the Rockies keeping everything to the east relatively splatter-free.

Those are very interesting to look at. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

We need an overlay of the growth of the Internet to see its impact.

Enjoyed reviewing those. Thanks.