Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Growth in 2025

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.

Church Membership 1830 - 2025

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. 

Several decades of annual Church growth

Net increase in membership during the 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.

Church (blue line) and world (red line) growth rates by year

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!"

All is not well in Zion, though. (2 Nephi 28:21). The Church is currently established in more than 160 countries and territories worldwide and 11 of those countries lost membership in 2025.

11 Countries that Lost Members in 2025

This list of countries with declining membership in 2025 includes the United States which is slightly disconcerting since historically the US has been the backbone of the Church (tithing faithfulness, multi-generational families, young people serving missions, etc.). Granted, the losses were not large, but any loss, especially in the breadbasket, is a cause for concern.

On a cheerier note, the list of the top 10 countries that added the most members in 2025 shows robust growth in Africa, Latin America, and Maritime Southeast Asia.

Top 10 Countries Where the Church Grew in 2025

Since I served my mission in Peru, I love to see strong growth in Latin America, but frankly, the lead story in 2025 was Africa where the Church is on a notable growth track.

Speaking of growth, these are countries with an outstanding membership growth rate in 2025.

Countries with Rapid Church Growth in 2025

It is thrilling to see 11 countries (including DR Congo in the previous table) wth double digit membership growth rates. May the kingdom of God go forth that the kingdom of heaven may come (D&C 65:6). 

Lifeway Research just published (May 2026) the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Annual Church Profile (ACP) for 2025. This is how LDS (orange line) and SBC (blue line) total membership compares since 1975.

LDS (orange) Compared with SBC (blue) Global Membership 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is often compared with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). In the current millennium they have been similar in size. SBC is the second largest church in the US (12 million) after the Roman Catholics (75 million). The LDS are third largest (6.9 million US members) in the country. Both organizations trace their roots to the 1800's. Both are missionary focused. The SBC baptized 263K new converts in 2025, the LDS baptized 385K. The SBC reached membership apogee in 2006 and the two faiths crossed each other's membership trajectories in 2015. The SBC is primarily in the US, while only about 39% of LDS members reside in the US. Both groups receive about $10 Billion in annual donations (tithing) from their members. The SBC is headquartered in Nashville, the LDS in Salt Lake City.

Church Membership Growth

As part of the 189th Annual General Conference today, the Church released its statistical report for December 31, 2018. As of year end, total Church membership stood at 16,313,735 which is an increase of 195,566 over 2017 when membership was 16,118,169. This is a growth rate of 1.21%, the lowest since 1937 when the great depression was ravaging the global economy. Here is a chart showing Church growth since 1975 with significant developments in certain years noted and the fastest growing years highlighted in yellow.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Membership

Year     Membership   Increase    % Growth   Developments 

1975     3,572,202      162,215     4.76%         Microsoft

1976     3,742,749      170,547     4.77%         Apple

1977     3,969,220      226,471     6.05%

1978     4,166,854      197,634     4.98%         Revelation on the Priesthood

1979     4,404,121      237,267     5.69%         FARMS (1979 - 2002)                

1980     4,639,822      235,701     5.35% 
1981     4,920,449      280,627     6.05%          IBM PC

1982     5,162,619      242,170     4.92%          Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP)

1983     5,351,724      189,105     3.66%          AOL

1984     5,641,054      289,330     5.41%   

1985     5,919,483      278,429     4.94%   

1986     6,166,974      247,491     4.18%   

1987     6,394,314      227,340     3.69%   

1988     6,721,210      326,896     5.11%          Ezra Taft Benson “Flood theEarth”

1989     7,308,444      587,234     8.74%          Email

1990     7,761,179      452,735     6.19%          HTTP, HTML, WWW, Browser 
1991     8,089,848      328,669     4.23%   

1992     8,404,087      314,239     3.88%   

1993     8,689,168      285,081     3.39%   

1994     9,024,368      335,200     3.86%           Yahoo, Amazon

1995     9,338,859      314,491     3.48%           Proclamation on the Family, EBay

1996     9,692,441      353,582     3.79%   

1997     10,071,783    379,342     3.91%           Netflix, FAIRMormon    

1998     10,354,241    282,458     2.80%           Google, PayPal 

1999     10,752,986    398,745     3.85%   

2000     11,068,861    315,875     2.94%   

2001     11,394,522    325,661     2.94%            Wikipedia

2002     11,721,548    327,026     2.87%             LinkedIn, BYU acquired FARMS 

2003     11,985,254    263,706     2.25%
2004     12,275,822    290,568     2.42%            Facebook         
2005     12,560,869    285,047     2.32%            YouTube             

2006     12,868,606    307,737     2.45%            Twitter

2007     13,193,999    325,393     2.53%   

2008     13,508,509    314,510     2.38%   

2009     13,824,854    316,345     2.34%             WhatsApp

2010     14,131,467    306,613     2.22%             Pinterest, Instagram

2011     14,441,346    309,879     2.19%             The Book of Mormon Musical

2012     14,782,473    341,127     2.31%             Interpreter Foundation

2013     15,082,028    299,555     2.03%

2014     15,372,337    290,309     1.92%
2015     15,634,199    261,862     1.70%
2016     15,882,417    248,218     1.59%             Book of Mormon Central

2017     16,118,169    235,752     1.48%             BMC en Español

2018     16,313,735    195,566     1.21%

This is what the Church growth rate looks like as a graph. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.

Church Membership Growth Rates 1975 - 2018

Three things are immediately apparent from this graph:

1. Something important happened in 1989 when the Church grew by 8.74%.
2. The long-term trend is unsettling. All is not well in Zion.
3. Growth has steadily slowed since 2000.

What happened in 1989? In October, 1988 General Conference, Pres. Ezra Taft Benson gave his memorable talk about flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. The Saints responded. Missionaries had boxes of books to give investigators with our photographs and testimonies pasted inside the front cover. The Book of Mormon is what happened in 1989. It is the divine tool uniquely designed by God to gather Israel in the last days. In 1989, we as a Church helped the Book of Mormon accomplish its intended purpose.

What has happened since 2000? The Internet has come to dominate popular culture. This creates several challenges for the Church:

1. The Internet is a network that empowers individuals and diminishes the influence of hierarchies. The Church, the Kingdom of God on earth, is the ultimate hierarchy. Our prophet, Pres. Russell Marion Nelson Sr., receives revelation directly from God. It doesn't get any more hierarchical than that.
2. Transparency is the coin of the realm in the Internet age. The Church, a Kingdom that is partly divine and partly human, struggles with transparency as indeed it must. Some things are sacred and pearls should not be cast before swine.
3. Trust in institutions is diminishing. How do people make buying decisions today? They look for five stars from a neighbor on Amazon rather than reading the manufacturer's slick and glossy brochure.
4. You don't sell much stuff knocking on doors anymore. We need innovative new systems to keep our missionaries productive.
5. Social media is hard to manage. In the old days, the Church could air Home Front spots on prime time TV or take out an ad in Reader's Digest and get our message out. Nowadays, each of the myriad content distribution channels has different protocols and audience expectations.
6. Search engines only identify "relevance," not truth. Search results on many subjects are more likely to be faith-destroying than faith-affirming.
7. Critics troll Church content online. The Church can post a terrific video on YouTube and haters within hours will post multiple low-budget videos contradicting the Church's position. After a member or investigator finishes watching the Church's polished production, YouTube's algorithm will suggest the attack videos.
8. Authenticity can outperform professionalism. The Church generally projects a clean-cut, classy image. Crude, unkempt reality content often gets more views, likes, and shares.
9. Humor rules. Most Church content is not very entertaining.
10. Diversity and tolerance are considered ultimate virtues. Obedience to eternal truth is often spun as old-fashioned if not discriminatory.
11. Twenty years ago, people required an average of 9 interactions with a product before they made a purchase decision. Today, 24 touch points are required on average before a prospect becomes a customer or an investigator a member, and that number is steadily rising.

Is the Church true? Yes. Is the Book of Mormon the most divine object most of us will ever hold in our mortal hands? Yes. Will the Savior return in glory and clean up this mess? Yes. Are we gathering Israel on both sides of the veil and preparing the world for the Second Coming? Yes. Will the Church figure out this online technology thing? Yes. "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine."

I took several members of the Book of Mormon Central staff to Google Headquarters in March, 2018. Visiting with a number of Latter-day Saint Googlers, we learned that two of the Apostles had been in Mountain View a few weeks before us. After learning that Google has eight products used by more than a billion customers (Search, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Android, Chrome, Play Store, Drive) Elder Bednar reportedly said that we in the Church need to raise our sights and increase our expectations.

Of the 16,313,735 baptized members of record on December 31, 2018, how many attend Church on a given Sunday? About 30% according to Matt Martinich who publishes the LDS Church Growth blog. That would be about 4.9 million people in the pews which is likely a reasonable proxy for the number who make the Book of Mormon an important part of their daily life. The United Nations estimates there are 7.7 billion humans on the planet in April, 2019. The Book of Mormon went on sale to the public on March 26, 1830 in Palmyra, NY. After 189 years, the Book of Mormon has achieved a market penetration rate of .000636, less than 1/15 of 1%, or about 6 people out of every 10,000.

The bad news is we probably could have done much better. The good news is we did pretty well in 1989 by following Pres. Benson's recipe given in his October, 1988 General Conference talk mentioned above. Pres. Benson asked us to produce:

• videos
• reading programs
• translations into many languages
• articles
• broadcasts
• lectures and symposiums
• classes
• talks
• books
• insights
• electronic media capable of mass distribution
• conversion stories
• recordings
• displays
• film, drama, literature, music, and paintings

He  also asked us to:

• read daily
• make the Book of Mormon more central in our work
• arouse mankind's interest
• answer the great questions
• abide by its precepts

FARMS was doing pretty much everything on the prophet's list in the 1988 - 1989 time frame. And, Book of Mormon Central is doing pretty much everything on the list today, albeit at a modest scale.

In order to learn how highly effective organizations scale in 2019, I took Zander Sturgill and Daniel Smith from Book of Mormon Central with me to Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019 in San Diego in February. The good news is some of the most talented digital marketers on earth are faithful Latter-day Saints who in their heart of hearts want to use their skills someday to help build the Kingdom. The additional good news is religious content has many characteristics compatible with modern distribution technologies.

The ideal mix for the Church in 2019 is to produce 50% of its own online content, with 30% coming from members (user-generated content) and the other 20% from trusted independent voices such as Book of Mormon Central (affiliates). The actual numbers right now are closer to 90% coming from the official Church, 8% from members, and 2% from trusted independent organizations. The ideal is achievable with increased donor support which will drive member awareness. The Church, its members, and those of us in supporting organizations are getting more adept at the modern media landscape every day.

Official Church Social Media Channels

Every one of the 15 living prophets, seers, and revelators has a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter account and the Church just created a public Facebook Group (a gutsy move, frankly. I do not envy the moderators). The Church has many YouTube channels. Here is how the Church's primary YouTube channel compares with a handful of channels from other religious institutions and with Book of Mormon Central @ April 6, 2019:

Name                                                            Subscribers   Views

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints   855,293         310,717,388
The Bible Project (non-denominational)       1,285,111           96,637,678

Vatican News                                                   223,177           38,208,070

Life.Church (online ministry)                            146,684           13,109,264

United Methodist Videos                                      9,356              2,512,833
Seventh Day Adventist Church                           21,751             1,910,035

Lakewood (largest US Megachurch)                   60,624             1,491,423

--

Book of Mormon Central (channels 2, 3)             23,290             2,582,301

With Pres. Nelson's extraordinary leadership, can Church membership growth numbers come roaring back to the levels they achieved during Pres. Benson's era? Yes, if we help the Book of Mormon accomplish its intended purpose. As Elder Christofferson said in his April 7, 2019 General Conference address, publication of the Book of Mormon was the signal the gathering of Israel in the last days has begun, and the Book of Mormon is the instrument of that gathering and conversion. Pres. Nelson has repeatedly emphasized the gathering of Israel is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude. Nothing else compares in majesty.

Kirk Magleby volunteers as Executive Director of Book of Mormon Central which makes the Book of Mormon accessible, comprehensible, and defensible to the entire world in English and Spanish.