This implies that as Church membership grows, so will the number of congregations. However, as can be seen on the chart below, that is currently not the case.
A few noteworthy observations about this chart:
- Membership growth rates are falling year-over-year, with the exception of Oceania, where they are stable around 2%;
- Congregation growth rates are lagging membership growth rates around the world, except in Africa. More converts apparently does not necessarily lead to more bums in pews;
- Growth rates in Africa are roughly five times higher then in the rest of the world, although they have been falling in the last three years as well (from 8.46 to 8.13 to 7.19%);
- In 2017, there was no congregation growth in the Mormon Church’s core market, the United States (41% of the membership). Membership growth rates have been declining as well, from 1.01% in 2015 to 0.75% in 2017;
- Growth rates in the Church’s second largest market, South America (25% of the membership) are declining, though not as strongly as in North America. 2016 seems to have been a particularly bad year for this region, with a .4% decline in congregations.
- Africa is now the Church’s strongest growing region. However, its membership is still almost seven times smaller than the number two region (South America) and more than 11 times smaller than the USA.
