Statistical Report 1978

Presented by Francis M. Gibbons

Secretary to the First Presidency

For the information of the members of the Church, the First Presidency has issued the following statistical report concerning the growth and status of the Church as of December 31, 1978:

Church Units

Number of stakes of Zion	990
Number of full-time missions	166
Number of wards	6,731
Number of independent branches in stakes	1,333
Number of mission branches	1,790
Number of countries with organized wards or branches	60

(These statistics reflect an increase of 694 wards and branches during 1978.)

Church Membership

Total membership reported by stakes, missions, and Church offices at the close of 1978

4,160,000

Church Growth during 1978

Children blessed	97,000
Children of record baptized	63,000
Converts baptized	152,000

(This convert baptism figure is an estimate based on 1978 reports received at Church headquarters prior to conference.)

Social Statistics

Birthrate per thousand	30.7
Number of persons married per thousand	13.1
Death rate per thousand	4.1

Priesthood

Deacons	145,000
Teachers	114,000
Priests	211,000
Elders	351,000
Seventies	29,000
High Priests	137,000

(This represents an increase of 37,000 priesthood holders during 1978.)

Full-time missionaries

27,669

Church School System

Total enrollment during the 1977–78 school year:

Seminaries and institutes, including special programs	301,000
Church schools, colleges, and continuing education	70,000

Welfare Services

Persons assisted with cash or commodities	111,500
Persons assisted by LDS Social Services	18,000
Persons placed in gainful employment	21,000
Man-days of labor donated to Welfare Services	443,500
Commodities distributed from storehouses (in pounds)	18,953,000

Genealogical Society

Names cleared in 1978 for temple ordinances

5,120,000

The Genealogical Department is acquiring records in 43 countries and has a total of 983,000 one-hundred-foot rolls of microfilm, equivalent to 4,679,000 volumes of 300 pages each.

Temples

Number of endowments performed during 1978:

For the living	50,400
For the dead	3,756,600
Temples in operation	16
Temples planned or under construction	5
Temples undergoing remodeling	1

There were 204,900 more endowments done in 1978 than in 1977, even though one of the temples was not in operation.

Prominent Members Who Passed Away during the Year

Elder Delbert L. Stapley, a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles; Ida Jensen Romney, wife of President Marion G. Romney, Second Counselor in the First Presidency; Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, former president of Brigham Young University; President Rudolph H. Luckau, president of the New Zealand Wellington Mission; President Robert Austin Trump, president of the Centerville Utah South Stake; Raymond J. Pace, former member of the General Church Missionary Committee and Regional Representative; and Wendell B. Mendenhall, former chairman of the Church Building Committee.