Today, April 4, 2026, the Church published its 2025 Statistical Report. Key takeaways:
1. Total worldwide membership at year-end reached 17,887,212. The Church was organized April 6, 1830 in Fayette, New York. By the end of 1830, membership stood at 280. Membership increased every year thereafter until it reached 68,429 in 1854. Then from 1855 - 1857 a triple whammy of natural disasters in Utah (drought, grasshopper infestation, harsh winters), risky transportation (Perpetual Education Fund credit availability dried up, so ox-drawn wagon trains were replaced by human-powered handcarts. One result was the Willie and Martin tragedies where 200 immigrants died.), and political tensions (Utah War aka Buchanan's Blunder, Mountain Meadows Massacre) caused Church numbers to drop by about 20% in those 3 years (68K to 55K). Since 1858, the Church has seen uninterrupted growth as the chart below illustrates. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.
2. Global Church membership increased by 377,431 in 2025. This was the largest increase since 1999. This number comes from convert baptisms + new children of record - deaths - disaffiliations. Convert baptisms in 2025 were 385,490, an all-time high. Children of record added to the rolls in 2025 were 91,835 which is fairly modest by historical standards. Latter-day Saints, like others almost everywhere, are marrying later and having fewer children. The global death rate in 2025 was between 7.6 and 7.8 per thousand. The US death rate was 9.2 per thousand. The Church has a relatively young demographic, so we are probably justified in estimating a 2025 Church death rate of 5 per thousand which would have resulted in 87,500 deaths in the year. That leaves room for about 12K disaffiliations (excommunications and requests for name removal from Church records). The following chart shows the last 51 years of annual increases in Church membership. The high water mark was during the Ezra Taft Benson administration. The low water mark was the infamous Covid-19 year.
3. A key metric is annual growth rate. 2025 began with membership at 17,509,781 and ended the year with membership at 17,887,212. That is a growth rate of 2.12%, the highest it has been since 2012. Here is the chart tracking 51 years of growth rates.
By any measure: total membership, annual increase, or growth rate, 2025 was a great year for the Church. Will the good news continue? This is what President Henry B. Eyring said on October 15, 2025: "I'll venture a prophecy. The growth of the Church will accelerate." President Dallin H. Oaks then added "I join in that prophecy!" President D. Todd Christofferson then added "Amen!"
