“Update: Melchizedek Priesthood Bearers,” Ensign, July 1985, 77
Update: Melchizedek Priesthood Bearers*
At the end of 1980, the Church’s sesquicentennial year, bearers of the Melchizedek Priesthood numbered nearly 570,000, as listed in the annual statistical report. In five years that number has grown to nearly 700,000, an increase of more than 22 percent. The number of elders grew by a little less than 22 percent, the number of seventies by 10 percent, and the number of high priests by more than 26 percent.