Church Passes Six-Million Mark in Membership

Sometime Wednesday, April 30, Church membership passed the six-million member milestone.

It was difficult to fix the exact time of the passing of that milestone, but Church statisticians projected that it would occur on April 30 based on 1985 year-end membership reports and the growth rate for the Church during the preceding year.

The milestone represented a 20 percent increase in Church membership in just four years, up from five million in April of 1982.

The one-million mark in membership was reached just thirty-nine years ago, in 1947, approximately 117 years after the Church was founded. Two million members were recorded in 1963, three million in 1971, and four million in 1978.

Although nearly two-thirds of all Church members live in the United States, membership is growing at a faster rate in other areas.

The Church’s Asia Area, with approximately 269,000 members, is growing at about 12 percent annually. South America follows, with approximately 790,000 members in the South America North and South America South areas and an annual growth rate of about 7.5 percent. The Mexico/Central America Area, with approximately 396,000 members, is growing at about 6 percent annually. The Pacific Area, with approximately 209,000 members, is growing at about 2.5 percent a year, and the Europe Area, with some 278,000 members, has a little more than 2 percent annual growth. The United States and Canada have a membership of approximately 4,058,000, growing at an annual rate of about 1.2 percent.

Of the Latter-day Saints in the United States, some 1,320,000 live in the Utah North and Utah South areas. Approximately 68 percent of those baptized into the Church are converts.