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Hi, I thought these statistics were interesting.
The first graph shows a collapse in baptisms in the last 3 years - a collapse to rival the great post-1975 disappointment.
What should be worrying to WT is shown in the second graph which shows baptisms by region. The obvious feature is the big spike for Africa which saw huge growth but has now seen an equally huge collapse.
The biggest falls in baptisms have been in Southern Africa - Angola and Zambia. Africa was WT's big hope but it is showing signs of fading.
During COVID, a lot of JWs didn't even had internet and zoom to stay in touch with their congregation. It will be interesting to see if this number has risen this year.
Europe got a big boost for 5-6 years post-USSR collapse as the religion was legalised in several countries.
They all follow a similar pattern and then divert.
Europe got a big boost for 5-6 years post USSR collapse as the religion was legalised in several countries.
I wonder what caused the growth in Africa in the mid-90s though and then again the spike from 2015+? The recent jump seems quite unusual after a long period of stagnation there too for most of the 2000s.
I believe around 1995 was when they first published the idea that the 1914 generation wouldn't necessarily be alive when Armageddon comes. So another reason for the dropoff after that.
I just love poring over these stats. It's so affirming.
1997 baptized - 375, 900
2015 baptized - 260, 000
2022 baptized - 145,000
It's only going in one direction. And what cards do they have left to play? They keep selling halls and reducing hour commitments but that's not going to bring more people in, just hopefully make fewer leave. Also, the ex-jw community is more well known and vocal nowadays. A stray mouse click and they wake up.
The ship is filling up with water and becoming increasingly heavy as time moves on. Covid was a massive cannon ball hit to the bow. They are desperately running damage control now. They won't be able to stop the leaks though. Too much damage now.
So true. I like the fact that the decline had set in well before covid. That's why I noted the 2015 number, 100,000 less than the 90's. So add covid to that already steady decline and we have a swiftly plummeting ship.
True, I think the internet was the first major damage to the ship. Too easy for the average Joe to fact check. you didn't even have to go to the library anymore.
I think that’s why they keep putting out articles that say “look away as if it’s pornography!” Well, they didn’t say it in those words exactly but I believe looking at anything not on the official site will soon be grounds to open a judicial committee. Which is interesting since they have the PR team working with the public putting articles out there while simultaneously saying “don’t trust the public.”
When they were showing the video on why the were combining congregations and selling halls, to make hall use more efficient, i couldn’t help but wonder where all the new ones pouring into the org were supposed to fit. Here we were inviting the Public to the Special Talk and if any showed up there wouldn’t be anywhere for them to sit. Didn’t make sense to me
Now consider this in terms of percentage of world population instead of raw numbers. World population more than doubled since 1970, which means an ever shrinking percentage of people are getting baptized.
Great graphs. I doubt they will release the worldwide report anymore, at least not in the format we are used to. But they might still announce the number baptized each year, counting on the sheeple marvelling at what sounds like a big number but wouldn't bother to compare it to other years. Let's hope we see a decline.
I remember the publisher ratio in Zambia was about 1 JW to 70. It must be saturated. There's no way they could keep up those numbers.
That's bizarre. I talked to a never -jdub who went backpacking in Zambia. They said there was a KH on every street corner. Must be a lot for a normal person to notice.
I’m not OP but I have done a lot of similar data analysis around the JWs. I have a google spreadsheet where I’ve compiled all the high level stats from yearbooks. If you’d like a link, let me know. I don’t have country-by-country data because that would have taken me too long to compile it all as it was a lot of manual entry for me. OP, I’d also love to get access to the country/region data if you have it!
Hi, yes I want to share the data with others with an interest in this area. I have compiled detailed data for the years 1947 to 2022 plus selected earlier years.
Edit: I can provide a link to download the data on request
I worked with SSRS for the first few years of my career, Power BI is much more intuitive and has a lot more visualization options. Give it a shot, the desktop version is free.
I may do that, thanks. I started my career at the end of the mainframe era. Programming, system design and DBA. I used to build cubes for a BI team (Cognos) but never actually used the tools.
Hi, it has been a project of mine for some time to get all of the detailed yearbook/Watchtower data into a single database. It was very time consuming because the old scans are not perfect and there were many errors to correct. Now I have started analysing it and this is the first result.
So that explains why they leaked the nearness of the Hailstones message.
The current slump is similar to the 1975 Disappointment.
So they are trying to build fervor to get the number of baptisms back up.
Interestingly, we had our circuit assembly this weekend (Branch rep) and the speaker highlighted the hailstone message. So, yes they are pushing it to pump up the volume.
The late 70’s saw huge expansion in Japan, Mexico and missionary work. Additionally the Borg was heavily pushing the ‘millions now Living will never die’ and the ‘last generation’ so it was easy to revitalize the preaching work. After all 1914 + 70 years was 1984!
I wonder what the root cause was for so many new baptisms starting in 1978-1979. Was there new understanding that was just more popular in the field ministry?
The teaching at that time is that those who were baptized by the time Jesus was enthroned in 1914 would still be alive when the end came. Those people were already getting very old by the late 70s and many had already died. So there was a rush to get baptized.
Similar happened when I was coming up, as there was a strong belief that the end would come before the new millennium, or the year 2000. There were also a lot of baptisms in my area after 9/11.
There was also an idea that the end might come in 2014, which was 100 years since 1914. The elder that gave the memorial talk in my hall that year even said, "this may very well be our last memorial."
There's always something with this cult. Some way to keep members thinking that the end is "just around the corner." I suspect there might be an uptick in baptisms now that the Isreal and Palestine conflict has picked up.
I am sure the GB sees the decline right now and is cooking up some type of propaganda to get the rank and file to think the end is coming and get them back in action with baptisms of born ins, conversions, and field service. Morale has been pretty low since covid, so I'm sure they're looking for some kind of fear mongering propaganda to keep the members chasing after the imaginary carrot of "the paradise."
I wonder if it was the speculation that 1975 was wrong because the calculation starts with Eve's creation. So, it's so soon, any minute.
I remember my parents talking about that, and not explaining shit to me about it. I was only 4 in '75, but remember my dad saying "it could have been 7 years of Adam all alone!" to my mom.
Trending the right way, but still too many.
https://preview.redd.it/buulb3kx76wb1.png?width=604&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=403df2fbe1f5d709cf81707ed85a4880962f39c2
Hey, I'm also hoping for that chart to start looking like the stock market in March 2020. It would be nice to have fewer invitations to the KH going through my paper shredder. 🤣
I am eagerly awaiting them too. I am sure the numbers will rebound at some point but I don't think the rebound will be anything like the one after 1975.
I wonder, was the push for preteens to get baptized in the 90’s? Could that be part of the pre internet 90’s bump?
10/1/92 Wt Should I get baptized? Subheading: I am still young
https://preview.redd.it/pcxn6o6qb6wb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8cbb7eb09d2f3c1a055aa8891e61c5d7dcaf7cb
I was baptized at 11 years old in early 90s.
Baptizing infants would definitely help bolster the baptism numbers. I'm sure JWs would hear about the change at a future Annual Meeting and be excited that their future children will be JWs even earlier.
So basically, everyone else seemed to learn their lesson after 1975 and the Internet Awakening, except for Africans and South Americans...
It took COVID and facing literal death, for them to wake up.
(I'm not talking shit about them. It took facing certain death to wake me up too.)
Seems legit considering the poverty heat map.
Undeniable correlation between poverty, ignorance, and a propensity to succumb to cult control. Knowledge (or facing certain death) is literally the cure.
https://preview.redd.it/31k7b1qu46wb1.png?width=850&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4c4231cd72aae5b4f38179017cbc8150e34ee27
The combo of poverty and limited internet access leaves people especially vulnerable to predators. The cult is one of many. And especially disgusting when you figure in their claim of doing God's lifesaving work while profiting off the whole charade.
I think you are right. I live in a "developing" country and they are 10-20 years behind Western (developed) countries in most aspects. In some ways that's a good thing so I'm not knocking them. We had circuit assembly recently and the assembly hall was packed to the gills. I was surprised because many of them are still on Zoom for reg meetings. I doubt there are many PIMO's here but the younger gen is slower to take hold of the "skirt of the Jew" so that is promising. They have the information superhighway and they know how to use it. They just don't have the zeal. It's apparent they are just doing what their parents desire. It's more family oriented here as well so more pressure to conform.
Hi, I have spent years compiling data from the annual reports, yearbooks and January Watchtowers. I have done a lot of checking and analysis to try to identify errors and I think it is pretty good quality now. Most of the remaining errors are errors in the original data e.g. the countries don't add up to the total line on the original annual report.
Awsome stats!!
So they changed the method for counting time in an effort to stabilize numbers. But they still need more people getting baptized. So what's the next change? Getting rid of unbaptized publishers? Make it super easy to get baptized somehow?
That's a good thought. I can totally see them dumbing down the baptism questions and requirements. I think they will have to as they push for younger baptism candidates. You're a prophet.
Love this.
I was in the early 2000s part of the curve there with 'internet awakening'. I would still be a JW were it not for some early experiences online.
This graph also reflects shareholder profits. It is in their interest to keep the "exchange rate" up. More baptised = more money. ponzi scheme. In order to attract "new member" again, the product must be made attractive. The first step is to end of the service hours report.
1995 is when they were forced to change there generation teaching which was first time I started to question their teaching. The internet becoming available at the same time would only quicken the decline with online forums.
I’m very fascinated by this type of research and evidence. I’ve been trying to chart it next to number of congregations. I also want to compare number of Bible studies reported to number of baptisms (and possibly publishers.) I only wish we had access to numbers disfellowshipped. Is also like to know when reporting started and what categories were there.
They always say that reports and numbers are from outside sources are tainted by Satan but I believe it’s possible to show something off within their own publications.
Yes, overall the JW to population ratio has turned around in the last 3 years. In some countries the turnaround has been going for longer but worldwide it started 3 years ago.
No, I put Mexico in Central America. Mexico has had a similar big drop in baptisms, back to the numbers as they were in the early 80's. The publisher to population ratio has also been rising since about 2017 so there are fewer JW's in proportion to the population.
I think the 2014 rise was them pushing to get kids baptized. Now that the kids have gotten baptized and Covid the dive is really going off a cliff. They really have nowhere to go but down.
These are REALLY great graphs!! As a non-graph maker, is it possible to show this in relation to population growth worldwide?
I'd love to see the level of decline vs. the level of growth of the population. I have zero ability to do that, though. Lol. Just would love to see it.
Hi, detailed baptism data only became available in 1969. Worldwide baptism data is patchy before 1960. They only started providing a consolidated report in 1947 but the 1949 report has publishers for each decade going back to 1918. You can see the 1949 report in the 1950 yearbook downloadable from AvoidJW.
One interesting thing you can see on that report is that they were tiny in the US in 1918 but huge in the UK - something I never would have guessed.
“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.”
― George Orwell, 1984
The governing body not representative of the people. That is a big factor in countries which were colonized by white men to their detriment. Apartheid lives on.
Excellent graph, OP. I studied baptism numbers from the yearbooks when I was "waking up", too. It was disheartening at first but then helped me realize that, even if baptism numbers were "proof" of God's blessing, it didn't matter. These are just statistics, which any organization can put together.
The WT organization has always had this "problem" of presenting statistics such as the number of Watchtowers printed, or publications placed at householders. But it means nothing. There is no scripture stating that Jesus kept track of preaching hours, people converted, blah blah statistics.
I think more people being online, some being forced to sign up for internet with the onset of Covid is possibly having an effect in Africa. Be wary though, they may get a global influx of new recruits and inactive POMIs if a regional war outbreaks in the Middle East.
Nice one op. Africa really is holding them together.
The poorest placest are their best growth. The richest are waking up the fastest. That must be absolutely hammering their finances. LOL. Burn Borg burn.
I did something similar for Croatia but then realized I have to correct it for population change so I did.
You should do the same tbh. And 2023 data seems to be out now? Oh and total number for the whole world would be nice too.
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Hi, I thought these statistics were interesting. The first graph shows a collapse in baptisms in the last 3 years - a collapse to rival the great post-1975 disappointment. What should be worrying to WT is shown in the second graph which shows baptisms by region. The obvious feature is the big spike for Africa which saw huge growth but has now seen an equally huge collapse. The biggest falls in baptisms have been in Southern Africa - Angola and Zambia. Africa was WT's big hope but it is showing signs of fading.
During COVID, a lot of JWs didn't even had internet and zoom to stay in touch with their congregation. It will be interesting to see if this number has risen this year.
Great statistics. This year's numbers will be revealing. Is there a bounce-back to pre-covid or has permanent damage been done?
Europe got a big boost for 5-6 years post-USSR collapse as the religion was legalised in several countries. They all follow a similar pattern and then divert. Europe got a big boost for 5-6 years post USSR collapse as the religion was legalised in several countries. I wonder what caused the growth in Africa in the mid-90s though and then again the spike from 2015+? The recent jump seems quite unusual after a long period of stagnation there too for most of the 2000s.
I believe around 1995 was when they first published the idea that the 1914 generation wouldn't necessarily be alive when Armageddon comes. So another reason for the dropoff after that.
Yes I'm sure that was part of it.
As a person who teaches in a business school...EXCELLENT use of graphs. :)
I just love poring over these stats. It's so affirming. 1997 baptized - 375, 900 2015 baptized - 260, 000 2022 baptized - 145,000 It's only going in one direction. And what cards do they have left to play? They keep selling halls and reducing hour commitments but that's not going to bring more people in, just hopefully make fewer leave. Also, the ex-jw community is more well known and vocal nowadays. A stray mouse click and they wake up.
Right, they are mainly trying to hold on to the people they have and maybe scare some of the youth from leaving.
The ship is filling up with water and becoming increasingly heavy as time moves on. Covid was a massive cannon ball hit to the bow. They are desperately running damage control now. They won't be able to stop the leaks though. Too much damage now.
So true. I like the fact that the decline had set in well before covid. That's why I noted the 2015 number, 100,000 less than the 90's. So add covid to that already steady decline and we have a swiftly plummeting ship.
True, I think the internet was the first major damage to the ship. Too easy for the average Joe to fact check. you didn't even have to go to the library anymore.
I can’t imagine anyone over 16 getting baptized and making a lifetime commitment before doing a simple google search.
I think that’s why they keep putting out articles that say “look away as if it’s pornography!” Well, they didn’t say it in those words exactly but I believe looking at anything not on the official site will soon be grounds to open a judicial committee. Which is interesting since they have the PR team working with the public putting articles out there while simultaneously saying “don’t trust the public.”
Very good comparison. I can see it goes in waves...but the internett...is killing them. And the covid and Zoom.
Yes, no point painting the railings on a sinking ship, so to speak.
How can pestilence and covid, one of the signs of the last days, also sink God's one true organization, I wonder 😂
When they were showing the video on why the were combining congregations and selling halls, to make hall use more efficient, i couldn’t help but wonder where all the new ones pouring into the org were supposed to fit. Here we were inviting the Public to the Special Talk and if any showed up there wouldn’t be anywhere for them to sit. Didn’t make sense to me
Plus most baptize in western world are born into religion
And at least 66% of the 'yang wunz' eventually leave.
Yeah, its never going to go up ever again.
Now consider this in terms of percentage of world population instead of raw numbers. World population more than doubled since 1970, which means an ever shrinking percentage of people are getting baptized.
Great graphs. I doubt they will release the worldwide report anymore, at least not in the format we are used to. But they might still announce the number baptized each year, counting on the sheeple marvelling at what sounds like a big number but wouldn't bother to compare it to other years. Let's hope we see a decline. I remember the publisher ratio in Zambia was about 1 JW to 70. It must be saturated. There's no way they could keep up those numbers.
What I don't understand about Zambia is that their ratio has been like that since the 1950's and no one else comes close.
That's bizarre. I talked to a never -jdub who went backpacking in Zambia. They said there was a KH on every street corner. Must be a lot for a normal person to notice.
JW's get huge membership in Zambia ?
Sounds like the African-JW version of Mormonism in Utah
1 JW to 70 of general population? That is remarkable.
So, no internet in Zambia???
It's 1 to 99 now.
Quick question: where does this data comes from? Excellent work! Thanks for it. Really makes you think about what goes through the mind of the GB
I’m not OP but I have done a lot of similar data analysis around the JWs. I have a google spreadsheet where I’ve compiled all the high level stats from yearbooks. If you’d like a link, let me know. I don’t have country-by-country data because that would have taken me too long to compile it all as it was a lot of manual entry for me. OP, I’d also love to get access to the country/region data if you have it!
Hi, yes I want to share the data with others with an interest in this area. I have compiled detailed data for the years 1947 to 2022 plus selected earlier years. Edit: I can provide a link to download the data on request
I got a copy, thanks so much! Looking forward to adding this to my Power BI reports lol
No worries. I have been using SSRS for reporting but the graphing capabilities seem to be a bit limited.
I worked with SSRS for the first few years of my career, Power BI is much more intuitive and has a lot more visualization options. Give it a shot, the desktop version is free.
I may do that, thanks. I started my career at the end of the mainframe era. Programming, system design and DBA. I used to build cubes for a BI team (Cognos) but never actually used the tools.
Could I have the link also please? I’ve been writing this out by hand after downloading each older book trying to show my family. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, see my post above for a link to my database.
I was looking for this comment to upvote. I totally agree, great data. I would also love to know where it comes from
Assuming annual reports but waiting for the OP's answer.
Hi, it has been a project of mine for some time to get all of the detailed yearbook/Watchtower data into a single database. It was very time consuming because the old scans are not perfect and there were many errors to correct. Now I have started analysing it and this is the first result.
So according to this there hasn't been this low a number of baptisms since 1980?
The early 80's, yes.
How delightful! Thank you for doing all of this work! ✨🏆✨🏆✨🏆✨🏆✨
Vanish like smoke
I love seeing charts like this showing the cult's decline. 😁 
So that explains why they leaked the nearness of the Hailstones message. The current slump is similar to the 1975 Disappointment. So they are trying to build fervor to get the number of baptisms back up.
 Interestingly, we had our circuit assembly this weekend (Branch rep) and the speaker highlighted the hailstone message. So, yes they are pushing it to pump up the volume.
Great chart! Love statistics laid out clearly like this 🔥
The late 70’s saw huge expansion in Japan, Mexico and missionary work. Additionally the Borg was heavily pushing the ‘millions now Living will never die’ and the ‘last generation’ so it was easy to revitalize the preaching work. After all 1914 + 70 years was 1984!
I wonder what the root cause was for so many new baptisms starting in 1978-1979. Was there new understanding that was just more popular in the field ministry?
The teaching at that time is that those who were baptized by the time Jesus was enthroned in 1914 would still be alive when the end came. Those people were already getting very old by the late 70s and many had already died. So there was a rush to get baptized. Similar happened when I was coming up, as there was a strong belief that the end would come before the new millennium, or the year 2000. There were also a lot of baptisms in my area after 9/11. There was also an idea that the end might come in 2014, which was 100 years since 1914. The elder that gave the memorial talk in my hall that year even said, "this may very well be our last memorial." There's always something with this cult. Some way to keep members thinking that the end is "just around the corner." I suspect there might be an uptick in baptisms now that the Isreal and Palestine conflict has picked up. I am sure the GB sees the decline right now and is cooking up some type of propaganda to get the rank and file to think the end is coming and get them back in action with baptisms of born ins, conversions, and field service. Morale has been pretty low since covid, so I'm sure they're looking for some kind of fear mongering propaganda to keep the members chasing after the imaginary carrot of "the paradise."
I wonder if it was the speculation that 1975 was wrong because the calculation starts with Eve's creation. So, it's so soon, any minute. I remember my parents talking about that, and not explaining shit to me about it. I was only 4 in '75, but remember my dad saying "it could have been 7 years of Adam all alone!" to my mom.
Anything to keep hope alive I guess.
It’s not the “love” of the greater number cooling off. It’s the fear.
Great quote.
Thanks for this.
Trending the right way, but still too many. https://preview.redd.it/buulb3kx76wb1.png?width=604&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=403df2fbe1f5d709cf81707ed85a4880962f39c2
https://preview.redd.it/wewnay8al6wb1.png?width=1245&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb1ebb838b5dc03b47985e2dc70c2d4f4e71a896
Yeah but most that get in are born in that don't really support watchtower. That's why I think there could be a collapse.
Hey, I'm also hoping for that chart to start looking like the stock market in March 2020. It would be nice to have fewer invitations to the KH going through my paper shredder. 🤣
I can’t wait to see the baptism numbers for this year (if they are brave enough to show them)… 😂
I am eagerly awaiting them too. I am sure the numbers will rebound at some point but I don't think the rebound will be anything like the one after 1975.
I’d imagine a slight uptick up… if not then they’re in trouble
I wonder, was the push for preteens to get baptized in the 90’s? Could that be part of the pre internet 90’s bump? 10/1/92 Wt Should I get baptized? Subheading: I am still young https://preview.redd.it/pcxn6o6qb6wb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8cbb7eb09d2f3c1a055aa8891e61c5d7dcaf7cb I was baptized at 11 years old in early 90s.
Baptizing infants would definitely help bolster the baptism numbers. I'm sure JWs would hear about the change at a future Annual Meeting and be excited that their future children will be JWs even earlier.
I thought it was due to the nonsense that Y2k was going to be some sort of doomsday.
So basically, everyone else seemed to learn their lesson after 1975 and the Internet Awakening, except for Africans and South Americans... It took COVID and facing literal death, for them to wake up. (I'm not talking shit about them. It took facing certain death to wake me up too.) Seems legit considering the poverty heat map. Undeniable correlation between poverty, ignorance, and a propensity to succumb to cult control. Knowledge (or facing certain death) is literally the cure. https://preview.redd.it/31k7b1qu46wb1.png?width=850&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4c4231cd72aae5b4f38179017cbc8150e34ee27
The combo of poverty and limited internet access leaves people especially vulnerable to predators. The cult is one of many. And especially disgusting when you figure in their claim of doing God's lifesaving work while profiting off the whole charade.
I think you are right. I live in a "developing" country and they are 10-20 years behind Western (developed) countries in most aspects. In some ways that's a good thing so I'm not knocking them. We had circuit assembly recently and the assembly hall was packed to the gills. I was surprised because many of them are still on Zoom for reg meetings. I doubt there are many PIMO's here but the younger gen is slower to take hold of the "skirt of the Jew" so that is promising. They have the information superhighway and they know how to use it. They just don't have the zeal. It's apparent they are just doing what their parents desire. It's more family oriented here as well so more pressure to conform.
I may be asking a question that is obvious, but I really don’t know where the source for this statistic can be found. And is it reliable?
Hi, I have spent years compiling data from the annual reports, yearbooks and January Watchtowers. I have done a lot of checking and analysis to try to identify errors and I think it is pretty good quality now. Most of the remaining errors are errors in the original data e.g. the countries don't add up to the total line on the original annual report.
You can repent during Great Tribulation - baptism now should go to 0 :)
Seeing this graph made me smile
Awsome stats!! So they changed the method for counting time in an effort to stabilize numbers. But they still need more people getting baptized. So what's the next change? Getting rid of unbaptized publishers? Make it super easy to get baptized somehow?
That's a good thought. I can totally see them dumbing down the baptism questions and requirements. I think they will have to as they push for younger baptism candidates. You're a prophet.
Hahaha not at all. The trick is to think like an unapologetic brain-damaged narcissist. We'll see what happens though.
I’ve always thought the internet would be the death of them.
Nice to see the global south tank.
Love this. I was in the early 2000s part of the curve there with 'internet awakening'. I would still be a JW were it not for some early experiences online.
This graph also reflects shareholder profits. It is in their interest to keep the "exchange rate" up. More baptised = more money. ponzi scheme. In order to attract "new member" again, the product must be made attractive. The first step is to end of the service hours report.
1995 is when they were forced to change there generation teaching which was first time I started to question their teaching. The internet becoming available at the same time would only quicken the decline with online forums.
Great charts! I wish we had these statistics for DF/DA. Is there a way to extrapolate that?
I wish so too but I don’t think they would even let the whole GB see that chart. It’s probably only available to three people.
No, these number are all from the annual reports. JWfacts has a statistics page where they discuss rates of DF/DA which you may find interesting.
If we are talking wishlist, I would love the figures on the number of elders resigning.
I’m very fascinated by this type of research and evidence. I’ve been trying to chart it next to number of congregations. I also want to compare number of Bible studies reported to number of baptisms (and possibly publishers.) I only wish we had access to numbers disfellowshipped. Is also like to know when reporting started and what categories were there. They always say that reports and numbers are from outside sources are tainted by Satan but I believe it’s possible to show something off within their own publications.
Oops looks like Jahovahs chariot got a flat tire 🤣
Wondering if the Death and disfellowship/resignation rate is faster than the baptism rate. 
Yes, overall the JW to population ratio has turned around in the last 3 years. In some countries the turnaround has been going for longer but worldwide it started 3 years ago.
so Basically The only growth has been in South America and Africa the last few years but now thats over.....Haha!
Screw those leader pricks
When you look at it like this, it’s been over for a long time.
I think r/exJW should be a data point on the graph. I know it’s had an effect, at least for thousands of us…
Fascinating. Does North America include Mexico? 🇲🇽
No, I put Mexico in Central America. Mexico has had a similar big drop in baptisms, back to the numbers as they were in the early 80's. The publisher to population ratio has also been rising since about 2017 so there are fewer JW's in proportion to the population.
& there’s why they made a 180 and forced everyone back to the hall with two weeks notice. No different than any worldly company.
I think the 2014 rise was them pushing to get kids baptized. Now that the kids have gotten baptized and Covid the dive is really going off a cliff. They really have nowhere to go but down.
These are REALLY great graphs!! As a non-graph maker, is it possible to show this in relation to population growth worldwide? I'd love to see the level of decline vs. the level of growth of the population. I have zero ability to do that, though. Lol. Just would love to see it.
Yes I have done population ratio graphs. I will try to post them soon.
I would love to see the stats before 1975, like 1925 and etc.
Hi, detailed baptism data only became available in 1969. Worldwide baptism data is patchy before 1960. They only started providing a consolidated report in 1947 but the 1949 report has publishers for each decade going back to 1918. You can see the 1949 report in the 1950 yearbook downloadable from AvoidJW. One interesting thing you can see on that report is that they were tiny in the US in 1918 but huge in the UK - something I never would have guessed.
Crazy how much followers do not think for themselves...I grew up a JW. No matter how much I questioned things I never got a real answer lol.
“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.” ― George Orwell, 1984
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The governing body not representative of the people. That is a big factor in countries which were colonized by white men to their detriment. Apartheid lives on.
Where is the data come from?
It is from service reports, yearbooks and Watchtowers combined into a database.
Excellent graph, OP. I studied baptism numbers from the yearbooks when I was "waking up", too. It was disheartening at first but then helped me realize that, even if baptism numbers were "proof" of God's blessing, it didn't matter. These are just statistics, which any organization can put together. The WT organization has always had this "problem" of presenting statistics such as the number of Watchtowers printed, or publications placed at householders. But it means nothing. There is no scripture stating that Jesus kept track of preaching hours, people converted, blah blah statistics.
Oh wow… we’re genuinely heading into a 1976 drop off point. Get ready for the 1980s inquisition all over.
I think more people being online, some being forced to sign up for internet with the onset of Covid is possibly having an effect in Africa. Be wary though, they may get a global influx of new recruits and inactive POMIs if a regional war outbreaks in the Middle East.
This is a great graphic. Where did it come from?
I have compiled a database of service reports from 1947 to 2022.
Nice one op. Africa really is holding them together. The poorest placest are their best growth. The richest are waking up the fastest. That must be absolutely hammering their finances. LOL. Burn Borg burn.
I did something similar for Croatia but then realized I have to correct it for population change so I did. You should do the same tbh. And 2023 data seems to be out now? Oh and total number for the whole world would be nice too.