Statistics of Jehovah's Witnesses

The following charts are created based on the statistics published each year in the January 1st issue of The Watchtower. Data published from 1988 through 2004 were used. (2004 statistics was published in the February 1st, 2005 issue.)

Highlight of 2004 Statistics

This year's Watchtower statistics shows very similar trends seen in the previous several years: plateauing in most developed countries in Europe, North America, and Japan, while continuing the steady growth in most of the African, South American countries, and those in the former Soviet Union. The number of those countries with negative or zero growth has increased from seven in 2003 to 22 in 2004.

The list of countries with zero or negative growth in 2004: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Czech, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hongkong, Hugary, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, USA.

While there are minor ups and downs, these overall trends in those so-called developed conutries seem to be very stable for close to one decade. If there is any small gain, that can be easily explained by the general population growth.

Worldwide Statistics of 2004

• Average number of publishers (shown in green dots scaled on the left axis) and the number of new baptism (shown in red dots scaled on the right axis)
  
• Rate of increase over the previous year (shown in blue bars scaled on the right axis) and average number of publishers (shown in green dots scaled on the left axis).
  
• Total hours of field service (shown in purple squares scaled on the left axis) and the average hours spent by one publisher (shown in white circles scaled on the right axis).
  
• Total number of memorial partakers (anointed) (shown in pink dots scaled on the left axis) and the number of memorial attendance (shown in blue dots scaled on the right axis).
  
• Average number of pioneer publishers (shown in yellow round dots scaled on the right axis) and the number of baptism per one pioneer (shown in purple square dots scaled on the right axis). Note the increase in number of pioneers over the past two years, reflecting the recent policy change in time requirement. Yet their work is getting futile as a less number of people are baptized relative to the number of pioneers in recent years.
  

Growth Pattern of Each Country from 1987 through 2004

Country profile charts were created based on the size of population and my own personal interest. For example, I have particular interest in the former Soviet Union and Asia and small countries in those areas are included due to my own interest. Click the region you are interested in and view the growth pattern of the average publishers and the number of baptism for the past 15 years in these countries.

• North America (Canada, Mexico, United States of America, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico)
• Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala)
• South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela)
• Western Europe (Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland, Netherlands)
• Northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden)
• Central Europe (Austria, Germany, Switzerland)
• Southern Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain)
• Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia)
• Former Soviet Union (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine)
• Africa (Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
• Oceania (Australia, New Zealand)
• Asia (Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand)

Rankings of Countries - 2002 (Last updated for 2002)

Following charts rank countries in order of various parameters.

1. Where are Jehovah's Witnesses living in the world?
   Top 30 countries where most publishers are counted in 2002.
   
2. Where are people converting to Jehovah's Witnesses in the world?
   Top 30 countries where most baptisms are counted in 2002.
   
3. Where are Jehovah's Witnesses growing and shrinking in the world?
   Top 20 countries with largest increase in number of publishers.
   
   Top 20 countries with largest decrease in number of publishers.
   
4. How many publishers does it take to convert a person to a Jehovah's Witness?
   Top and bottom 20 countries of the ratio of one baptism to publisher. The higher the ratio, the more publishers are needed to convert a person to Jehovah's Witnesses. For example in Iceland, it takes 145 publishers' work for one year to convert one person, whereas in Albania it takes only 7 publishers. Note the scale of the vertical axis is different between right and left chart.
   
5. How many preaching hours does it take to convert a person to a Jehovah's Witness?
   Top and bottom 20 countries of the ratio of one baptism to hours. The higher the ratio, the longer hours are needed to convert to Jehovah's Witnesses. For example in Japan, it takes about 18,000 hours (!) of preaching to gain one baptism, whereas in Nepal it takes only 2000 hours.
   
6. How hard are publishers preaching in different areas of world?
   Top and bottom 20 countries of service hours per each publisher. For example in Albania, one publisher spends about 400 hours per year on the average, whereas in Poland, one publisher spends only 120 hours.
   
7. What percentage of publishers are pioneers in different countries?
   Top and bottom 20 countries of the percentage of pioneers among publishers. Vertical axis represents percentage.