2025 Governing Body Update #7

[Parale]

On 11/14/2025 at 2:10 PM, Jwanon said:

Hmmm...a lot less attendants to the Memorial compared to last year

 

Jeffrey Winder: "And what about the Memorial attendance? How encouraging that 20,635,015 attended the Memorial and that 15 lands reported an all-time peak attendance!"

 

Yes, it is down on last year, but TBH I think it also fluctuates year-on-year depending on the day-of-the-week, and relation of the date to the holiday season 🤷‍♂️

 

 

 

 

Jeffrey Winder: "And what about the Memorial attendance? How encouraging that 20,635,015 attended the Memorial and that 15 lands reported an all-time peak attendance!"

 

We will not know the lands until the SYR is released in late December/early January .... but it is always great to see peak attendances, especially when those lands are 'bucking-the-trend' of a lower overall attendance figure. (FWIW, last year had a higher overall attendance figure, and some 36 lands reported all-time peaks.)

[rocket]

Looking at the numbers

 

1957 over 1 million Memorial attendance--1969 over 1 million publishers

1988 over 9 million Memorial attendance--2025 over 9 million publishers

2025 over 20 million Memorial attendance--  ?   over 20 million publishers

[jdcarlson]

6 hours ago, rocket said:

Looking at the numbers

 

1957 over 1 million Memorial attendance--1969 over 1 million publishers

 

I distinctly remember at the Pioneer Meeting at the District Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1963 when Brother Knorr announced that in April, 1963, there were 1,040,000 publishers worldwide.

 

I was at that pioneer meeting.

 

It sticks in my mind since I can remember programs for District Conventions showing in the 1950s where the 500,000 and 750,000 numbers of publishers landmarks were passed.

 

I had been really waiting for that number to get over 1,000,000.

 

We passed the 1,000,000 mark (at least as a one month peak) in 1963, not 1969.

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

[Dustparticle]

 I predict in the late 90’s that we will reach the 10 million mark before the end comes. I’m getting close.

[rocket]

1 hour ago, jdcarlson said:

 

We passed the 1,000,000 mark (at least as a one month peak) in 1963, not 1969.

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

 

Yes, that's true. '69 report in the '70 Yearbook was at 1.3 million peek publishers.

[computerwiz]

1 hour ago, Dustparticle said:

 I predict in the late 90’s that we will reach the 10 million mark before the end comes. I’m getting close.

 

Duuuuuuuuude! Wait a minute!!!!

 

 

We need TEN million witnesses!!! 👀🤔😁

 

[Dages]

10 millions would be a thousand myriad  nice

[LeolaRootStew]

2 hours ago, Dustparticle said:

 I predict in the late 90’s that we will reach the 10 million mark before the end comes. I’m getting close.

 

maybe we'll reach 10 million when people return to God during the great tribulation.

[jwhess]

20 minutes ago, LeolaRootStew said:

 

maybe we'll reach 10 million when people return to God during the great tribulation.

Some of the guesses about the numbers of those who might join us after the destruction of BTG come true (100s of millions, billions)?

Edited November 25 by jwhess

[Parale]

On 11/24/2025 at 5:52 PM, rocket said:

Looking at the numbers

 

1957 over 1 million Memorial attendance--1969 over 1 million publishers

 

Technically correct, though I believe you've got a transcription/transposing error between 1964 and 1969 😞

 

A worldwide average of over one million publishers was first reached in the 1964 Service Year 🙂

[Parale]

I'm not keen on using 'peak publisher' numbers - as the Watchtower explains: "'Peak publishers' is the highest number reporting for any one month of the service year and may include late reports that were not added to the preceding month’s report. In this way some publishers may be counted twice."

 

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2011609#h=5

 

I would add sometimes a publisher may submit two, three, or more late reports in one go - and therefore be counted, not just twice, but thrice, four times, or even more 😮

 

How do you explain the Sixties? The impression I get is that the concept of being a publisher was much more relaxed compared to modern times. New publishers (AKA regular meeting attendees) would probably initially go on the ministry 'haphazardly' - perhaps starting during a 'campaign', missing a few months, before becoming regular 🤷‍♂️

 

On 11/25/2025 at 12:05 AM, jdcarlson said:

I distinctly remember at the Pioneer Meeting at the District Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1963 when Brother Knorr announced that in April, 1963, there were 1,040,000 publishers worldwide.

 

Ah yes, the 1960s Annual April Campaign (AKA Memorial Campaign) would get a peak number of publishers out in the ministry.

 

I don't believe the April peaks below (in orange) are due to 'late reports' .... I suspect the peak is boosted by new publishers who didn't start regularly going in the ministry until a few months later?..... a pattern that started to disappear from mid-1969. (At the time around a third of all JWs where in the United States)

 

 

[jwhess]

13 minutes ago, Parale said:

I'm not keen on using 'peak publisher' numbers - as the Watchtower explains: "'Peak publishers' is the highest number reporting for any one month of the service year and may include late reports that were not added to the preceding month’s report. In this way some publishers may be counted twice."

 

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2011609#h=5

 

I would add sometimes a publisher may submit two, three, or more late reports in one go - and therefore be counted, not just twice, but thrice, four times, or even more 😮

 

How do you explain the Sixties? The impression I get is that the concept of being a publisher was much more relaxed compared to modern times. New publishers (AKA regular meeting attendees) would probably initially go on the ministry 'haphazardly' - perhaps starting during a 'campaign', missing a few months, before becoming regular 🤷‍♂️

 

 

Ah yes, the 1960s Annual April Campaign (AKA Memorial Campaign) would get a peak number of publishers out in the ministry.

 

I don't believe the April peaks below (in orange) are due to 'late reports' .... I suspect the peak is boosted by new publishers who didn't start regularly going in the ministry until a few months later?..... a pattern that started to disappear from mid-1969. (At the time around a third of all JWs where in the United States)

 

 

Remember that publishers are not "regular" until they have reported for 6 months continuously.  So for half of a year they will not be on the "regular publisher" column.  But they will show in the "peak publisher" column.  I treasure the peak publishers because it shows that new ones are joining.  AND for older ones who might miss  a month or two because of health and weather, they become "irregular" and so also show in the "peak publisher" column.  Our joy at their reports counting makes me  value the peak publisher column.  Our CO reminded me one time that we never want the "irregular publisher" count to go to zero.  We want the new ones and the old ones to keep on trying...♥️

Edited 12 hours ago by jwhess

[Parale]

3 minutes ago, jwhess said:

Remember that publishers are not "regular" until they have reported for 6 months continuously.

 

Yes 'regular publisher' does have that specific meaning.

 

My understanding is that new publishers who have just started are not called 'irregular' for the purposes of the CO Visit etc, unless they have actually missed a month after starting.

 

TBH I think the most interesting figure would be 'active publishers' - which is defined as the number of publishers that have reported ministry for at least one of the last six months (no double counting, and everyone counted) - but that figure is not publically released by Bethel.

[Parale]

Jeffrey Winder: "In the Philippines, we had a new peak, averaging over 268,200 publishers."

 

Encouraging to see the continuing growth in the Philippines, even if we don't (yet) have an exact number 😬

 

 

(Note: Av Pub numbers for 2017 and 2018 not available)

[Parale]

Jeffrey Winder: "In the country of Mexico, we reached a new peak of 879,024 publishers."

 

The way Bro WInder is talking, I'm presuming these new 'peaks' of publishers are actually new peaks of average publishers - also because last year's actual 'peak publishers' for Mexico was 878,990, which would be only 34 less 🤷‍♂️

 

 

(Note: Av Pub numbers for 2017 and 2018 not available)

[Parale]

Jeffrey Winder: "In the country of France, we are happy to report a new peak in the number of publishers, 139,548."

 

As before, this must be a new peak of average publishers because the actual 'peak publishers' last year was more, at 139,932.

 

Encouraging to see the steady and consistent growth in France over the last 25 years.

 

 

(Note: Av Pub numbers for 2017 and 2018 not available)

[Parale]

Just now, Parale said:

Encouraging to see the steady and consistent growth in France over the last 25 years.

 

 

(Note: Av Pub numbers for 2017 and 2018 not available)

 

Wait... what happened in France during the late 1990s??

 

Let's start at the beginning of the graph in 1947 ....

 

1947: The war time ban was lifted on 1 September 1947 (prior to the start of the ban in 1939, just over 2,600 publishers had been reporting).

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2011681#h=11

 

1975: The circulation of the Watchtower magazine was finally legally authorised.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101986128#h=5

 

1996: In response to false accusations in the media the FDS wrote a special four-page tract: "Les Témoins de Jéhovah - Ce que vous devez savoir" ["Jehovah’s Witnesses - What You Need to Know"] - and during a four-week campaign from 13 May to 9 June 1996, over nine million copies where distributed. With a population of just under 60 million, that means around 1-in-6 people got a tract [or around one third of all households)

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1997206

 

1998 to 2012: The WT in France faced taxation issues.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200272246#h=284

 

 

[Parale]

Jeffrey Winder: "In Brazil, we had a new peak of over 930,000 publishers. Since then, we’ve already reached a new all-time peak of over 940,000 publishers in September."

 

Nicely building on last year's increase .... what will be interesting to see though in the full SYR is if Bible studies have increased?

 

 

(Note: Av Pub numbers for 2017 and 2018 not available)

[Parale]

Jeffrey Winder: "In Indonesia, we had a peak in the number of publishers, 32,371. That represents a 3 percent increase over last year. We also recently reached an all-time peak in the number of regular pioneers, over 7,100."

 

 

 

Jeffrey Winder: "In Angola, we had a 6 percent increase in the number of publishers. That brought us to over 184,000, which is a new peak. But since then, we’ve already reached a new all-time peak of 190,939 publishers in September.

 

 

 

Jeffrey Winder: "In Zimbabwe, we were pleased to see a peak in the number of publishers, over 53,700. That’s an increase of 7 percent. In addition, we recently reached an all-time peak in the number of regular pioneers, over 10,600."

 

 

 

Jeffrey Winder: "In Congo (Kinshasa), we had an 11 percent increase in the number of publishers, with over 297,000.
We also had all-time peaks in the number of Bible studies and in Memorial attendance. In fact, over 1.4 million people attended the Memorial. That is over four times the number of publishers."

 

 

 

Jeffrey Winder: "In Madagascar, we had a 7 percent increase in the number of publishers. That brings us to a new peak of over 44,500. We had nearly four times that many attend the Memorial, with an all-time peak of 176,453."

 

 

 

Jeffrey Winder: "These are just a few highlights from the 2025 Service Year Report. It’s evidence of Jehovah’s rich blessing. It also reflects your outstanding zeal for the preaching work."