And another twenty years have passed and they have lost another 298 congregations. That's nearly 1,000 congregations in the last 26 years.
Japan closes 638 Congregations!!!!! Why???
by Witness 007 73 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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slimboyfat
Indeed, a big drop. The days of fabulous Japanese growth are well and truly over. (Mexico, Brazil and Italy too)
It's worth bearing in mind that the population of Japan itself is also declining, so JWs are not declining as much in relative terms as the absolute numbers indicate.
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Earnest
slimboyfat : JWs are not declining as much in relative terms as the absolute numbers indicate.
26 years ago (1998) the ratio of publishers to population in Japan was 1:563 (1999 Service Year Report)
20 years ago (2004) the ratio of publishers to population in Japan was 1:583 (2005 Service Year Report)
Last year (2024) the ratio of publishers to population in Japan was 1:581 (2024 Country and Territory Report)
So there was a big drop (5,250 publishers) between 1998 and 2004 but nothing much has changed since then in relative terms.
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Anony Mous
Note that the way they are counting publishers now vs then is very different. People don’t seem to realize that as the “requirements” for being an “active publisher” drop to near zero activity, more people are now being included in that pool. It’s a statistical game to pretend they’re not losing a significant mindshare. Soon enough they’ll be relying on Pew surveys and visitors to forums like this to calculate membership.