1979
Statistical Report 1978
May 1979


“Statistical Report 1978,” Ensign, May 1979, 18

Saturday Afternoon Session

Statistical Report 1978

For the information of the members of the Church, the First Presidency has issued the following statistical report concerning the growth and status of the Church as of December 31, 1978:

Church Units

Number of stakes of Zion

990

Number of full-time missions

166

Number of wards

6,731

Number of independent branches in stakes

1,333

Number of mission branches

1,790

Number of countries with organized wards or branches

60

(These statistics reflect an increase of 694 wards and branches during 1978.)

Church Membership

Total membership reported by stakes, missions, and Church offices at the close of 1978

4,160,000

Church Growth during 1978

Children blessed

97,000

Children of record baptized

63,000

Converts baptized

152,000

(This convert baptism figure is an estimate based on 1978 reports received at Church headquarters prior to conference.)

Social Statistics

Birthrate per thousand

30.7

Number of persons married per thousand

13.1

Death rate per thousand

4.1

Priesthood

Deacons

145,000

Teachers

114,000

Priests

211,000

Elders

351,000

Seventies

29,000

High Priests

137,000

(This represents an increase of 37,000 priesthood holders during 1978.)

Full-time missionaries

27,669

Church School System

Total enrollment during the 1977–78 school year:

Seminaries and institutes, including special programs

301,000

Church schools, colleges, and continuing education

70,000

Welfare Services

Persons assisted with cash or commodities

111,500

Persons assisted by LDS Social Services

18,000

Persons placed in gainful employment

21,000

Man-days of labor donated to Welfare Services

443,500

Commodities distributed from storehouses (in pounds)

18,953,000

Genealogical Society

Names cleared in 1978 for temple ordinances

5,120,000

The Genealogical Department is acquiring records in 43 countries and has a total of 983,000 one-hundred-foot rolls of microfilm, equivalent to 4,679,000 volumes of 300 pages each.

Temples

Number of endowments performed during 1978:

For the living

50,400

For the dead

3,756,600

Temples in operation

16

Temples planned or under construction

5

Temples undergoing remodeling

1

There were 204,900 more endowments done in 1978 than in 1977, even though one of the temples was not in operation.

Prominent Members Who Passed Away during the Year

Elder Delbert L. Stapley, a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles; Ida Jensen Romney, wife of President Marion G. Romney, Second Counselor in the First Presidency; Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, former president of Brigham Young University; President Rudolph H. Luckau, president of the New Zealand Wellington Mission; President Robert Austin Trump, president of the Centerville Utah South Stake; Raymond J. Pace, former member of the General Church Missionary Committee and Regional Representative; and Wendell B. Mendenhall, former chairman of the Church Building Committee.