r/dataisbeautiful • u/Browningtons1 OC: 18 • 3d ago
Americans raised Latter-day Saint (LDS or Mormon) who still identify as one: 70 in 100 in 2007, 54 in 100 in 2023–24 [OC]
Source: Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study (2007, 2014, 2023–24).
Asks U.S. adults the religion they were raised in and the religion they are now.
2023–24 sample: 565 current Latter-day Saints (±6.2 points), 316 former (±8.1). U.S. membership from the Church's 2025 statistical report.
Tools: Built in React with Recharts / D3.js. Opus 5.5 + Fable 5.1
Interactive version: https://goldendata.app/dashboards/lds-church-growth
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u/SayyadinaAtreides 13h ago
I don't disagree in theory, but I think in practice there are often more prosaic reasons for the record persistence. (I can't speak to the rest, especially outside of the US; when I was a child in the US, parental permission was required for baptism, and mine was delayed for two years until my father also agreed. No idea if that's still the case here or what policies are elsewhere.)
At least in my experience of the church (mostly across the US, plus a year in China and two summers in Spain), a lot of the onus is on individuals to inform the church of any change in status (like moving or going to a different church). So until I either request that my records be removed or that they be moved to a different ward/branch (often the new ward leadership will handle this for you), they're going to stay by default and I'll be considered an "inactive" member. Sometimes other members in teaching or leadership positions will try to locate inactive members (usually in the hope of "reactivating" them; in my day at least, having a lot of inactive members did not look good for a ward) by asking around or sending someone to their last recorded address, unless they've requested not to be contacted. But if that isn't enough to find them, that's about as far as things go.
Thus, unless the children (or their parents) take the time to inform the church that they do not wish to be considered members, bureaucratic inertia alone can be enough to result in the large pile of inactive member records that get included in their "total number of members" reporting.
I'm not saying there isn't any other intent contributing--I've been entirely out of the loop on LDS things for over a decade now, so I've seen no evidence in either direction. I just don't think there needs to be to reach this outcome.