2025 Service Year Report of Jehovah’s Witnesses Worldwide

[bvr]

NOW AVAILABLE!

Read Here.

[Thomas Walker]

We topped nine million.

 

304,643 Baptized is almost 35 new brothers and sisters an hour.

[Sepie93]

I've noticed the "35 other lands".

Belarus has been moved there. Plus another unknown country where activity has been reported.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-S911B met Tapatalk

[dljbsp]

One thing that stood out to me was how strong the growth was in smaller countries. In several lands, the actual number of new publishers wasn’t large, but the percentage increase was very high. When a country has only a few hundred publishers and gains even 50 or 100 more, that can mean growth of 10%, 15%, or more. That kind of increase feels like momentum, not just maintenance.

 

Another highlight was countries that grew even though conditions are difficult. I noticed multiple lands with political problems, poverty, or instability still showing clear increases in publishers and Bible studies. Even small numerical growth in those places carries more weight because the obstacles are so real. The percentages there tell a stronger story than raw numbers.

 

A third thing that caught my attention was where Bible studies grew faster than publishers. In some countries, the number of Bible studies increased at a higher rate than the number of publishers. That tells me groundwork is being laid. It may not show immediate publisher growth yet, but it points to future growth already in progress.

[Dages]

Progress in Africa is amazing ! (Sudan though )

Also Bangladesh ! There was a SPC this month over there, so we may expect even better numbers next year !

[bystander]

Another big increase in partakers.🍷 

[jwhess]

I enjoyed reading about Cuba.  It is one of the 5 remaining communist countries in the world (and the only one in the Western Hemisphere). Still, they have 83,000 publishers and a ratio of 1 to 118 in their restricted country.  They have almost 11,000 pioneers and almost 200,000 at the Memorial.

 

Back in the 1950s, when I lived in Key West, FL we used to get TV live from Havana (which is only 90 miles away).

[Jim Jam]

What happened in Turkey

[Sepie93]

What happened in Turkey

It is becoming more and more difficult to get a residency over there. Many need-greaters and brothers with a another nationality are forced to leave the country.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-S911B met Tapatalk

[Jim Jam]

Just now, Sepie93 said:

It is becoming more and more difficult to get a residency over there. Many need-greaters and brothers with a another nationality are forced to leave the country.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-S911B met Tapatalk
 

 

It's sad that one of the historical lands of Christianity is losing its members

 

May we pray that the local brothers pick up the pace

[Foxes53]

2 Countries that had the biggest increase in peak publishers. Congo Dem Rep and Zambia.

What happened in Moldova?

[jwhess]

Brazil needs about 40,000 more publishers and they will be second country in the world to pass the 1 million publisher mark.

[Dustparticle]

 Here is the plus and minus compare to 2024 Year Report. Any corrections, please do.

• Branches of Jehovah’s Witnesses: 84  Same

• Number of Lands Reporting: 241  +1

• Total Congregations: 119,652  +825

• Worldwide Memorial Attendance: 20,635,015  -484,427

• Memorial Partakers Worldwide: 24,576  +1,364 *

• Peak of Publishers : 9,205,326  +161,866

• Average Publishers Preaching Each Month: 9,047,083  +218,959

• Percentage of Increase Over 2024: 2.5

• Total Number Baptized : 304,643  +8,376

• Average Pioneer c Publishers Each Month: 1,743,567  +64,541

• Average Auxiliary Pioneer Publishers Each Month: 864,870  -2,632

• Average Bible Studies d Each Month: 7,603,182  +122,036

 

* Past 1942 Memorial Partakers

[Parale]

16 hours ago, Thomas Walker said:

We topped nine million.

 

304,643 Baptized is almost 35 new brothers and sisters an hour.

 

FWIW both of these significant numbers where released last month during the Governing Body 2025 #7

 

Average of 9,047,083 publishers during 2025 Service Year, representing a 2.5 percent increase:

 

 

That 2.5 percent increase is also important .... it is the biggest percentage increase in publishers for 15 years - since 2010 - and follows an impressive 2.4% increase last year, in 2024

 

(FWIW a bit of rounding is involved, so the 2010 increase was 2.533%, and the 2025 increase was 2.480%.)

 

 

 

304,643 baptized during the service year represents the biggest number of baptisms for 26 years - since 1999.... And only six previous years have ever had a higher number of baptism .... 

 

 

(Note: baptism figures for 1956 and 1961 are not available)

Edited 11 hours ago by Parale

[Korotkiy]

12 hours ago, jwhess said:

enjoyed reading about Cuba.  It is one of the 5 remaining communist countries in the world (and the only one in the Western Hemisphere). Still, they have 83,000 publishers and a ratio of 1 to 118 in their restricted country.  They have almost 11,000 pioneers and almost 200,000 at the Memorial.

 

Interesting that Cuba branch never been closed. I know brother from Kiev who have military service on Cuba and studied Bible here. Brother went to some place and never got a problems, just once then tried to used for a some familiar issues.

[Isaac Lupupa]

8 hours ago, Foxes53 said:

2 Countries that had the biggest increase in peak publishers. Congo Dem Rep and Zambia.

What happened in Moldova?

Zambia my country is a preaching paradise, the people are warm and very receptive to the good news

[Chris7]

Little has changed in Britain, perhaps as expected.    (Bible studies & memorial attendance slipped a little)

We have an opportunity to increase Bible Studies (or should we say Bible Conversation, Discussion, (e.g. "why not get to know your Bible?")

If its on-going, we can report it as a study.

 

Britain	2024	2025
population	69,196,000	67,698,000
2024 Peak Pubs.	144,579	144,116
Ratio, 1 Publisher to	484	472
2024 Av. Pubs.	143,033	143,320
% Inc. Over 2023 /24	2	-
2024 No. Bptzd.	2,395	2,372
Av. Pio. Pubs.	21,632	21,503
No. of Congs.	1,579	1,565
Av. Bible Studies	43,452	42,112
Memorial Attendance	229,344	223,423

There's more work to do brothers. 

Having said that, we had good increases in 2023 and 2024, so a slight drop is not very significant. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Chris7
comment added

[Chris7]

17 minutes ago, Chris7 said:

There's more work to do brothers. 

Having said that, we had good increases in 2023 and 2024, so a slight drop is not very significant. 

For the record in Britain....

Britain	2023	2024	2025
population	66,357,000	69,196,000	67,698,000
2024 Peak Pubs.	142,073	144,579	144,116
Ratio, 1 Publisher to	474	484	472
2024 Av. Pubs.	140,109	143,033	143,320
% Inc. Over 2023 /24	1	2	-
2024 No. Bptzd.	2,361	2,395	2,372
Av. Pio. Pubs.	20,744	21,632	21,503
No. of Congs.	1,599	1,579	1,565
Av. Bible Studies	44,362	43,452	42,112
Memorial Attendance	224,661	229,344	223,423

[Parale]

10 hours ago, Foxes53 said:

What happened in Moldova?

 

Something definately happened.... but what?

 

Moldova is one of the former Soviet Republics which borders onto two countries: Ukraine and Romania.

In recent years Moldova has seen a fairly significant population drop.

The Moldova/Ukraine border is the location of the unrecognized breakaway republic of Transnistria.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria

 

There also looks like a mistake in the figures? The SYR says there was a 10% decrease in Average Publishers, but the actual figures the SRYs list indicate that the number of Average Publishers went from 19,673 (2024) down to 15,422 (2025), a drop of 4,251 publishers, or a 22% decrease?

 

Any ideas? Anyone?

 

 

[ChrisC]

5 hours ago, Dustparticle said:

 Here is the plus and minus compare to 2024 Year Report. Any corrections, please do.

• Branches of Jehovah’s Witnesses: 84  Same

• Number of Lands Reporting: 241  +1

• Total Congregations: 119,652  +825

• Worldwide Memorial Attendance: 20,635,015  -484,427

• Memorial Partakers Worldwide: 24,576  +1,364 *

• Peak of Publishers : 9,205,326  +161,866

• Average Publishers Preaching Each Month: 9,047,083  +218,959

• Percentage of Increase Over 2024: 2.5

• Total Number Baptized : 304,643  +8,376

• Average Pioneer c Publishers Each Month: 1,743,567  +64,541

• Average Auxiliary Pioneer Publishers Each Month: 864,870  -2,632

• Average Bible Studies d Each Month: 7,603,182  +122,036

 

* Past 1942 Memorial Partakers

 

2.5% publisher increase, but total congregations are only up <1%

Congregations purposely getting bigger? Or is this about shortage of Kingdom Halls?

[Parale]

21 hours ago, dljbsp said:

One thing that stood out to me was how strong the growth was in smaller countries. In several lands, the actual number of new publishers wasn’t large, but the percentage increase was very high. When a country has only a few hundred publishers and gains even 50 or 100 more, that can mean growth of 10%, 15%, or more. That kind of increase feels like momentum, not just maintenance.

 

Which lands stood out to you? One land had an increase of over 15%, 18 lands had increases of 10%, or more .....

 

There are a few interesting ones in the mix ....

 

 

(NOTE: Percentage decrease for Moldova adjusted using provided SRY figures)

[Parale]

21 hours ago, dljbsp said:

Another highlight was countries that grew even though conditions are difficult. I noticed multiple lands with political problems, poverty, or instability still showing clear increases in publishers and Bible studies. Even small numerical growth in those places carries more weight because the obstacles are so real. The percentages there tell a stronger story than raw numbers.

 

Which lands did you notice? I saw four ...

 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/burkina-faso

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/central-african-republic

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/niger

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/south-sudan

 

[Jan Brad]

1 hour ago, Parale said:

 

Something definately happened.... but what?

 

Moldova is one of the former Soviet Republics which borders onto two countries: Ukraine and Romania.

In recent years Moldova has seen a fairly significant population drop.

The Moldova/Ukraine border is the location of the unrecognized breakaway republic of Transnistria.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria

 

There also looks like a mistake in the figures? The SYR says there was a 10% decrease in Average Publishers, but the actual figures the SRYs list indicate that the number of Average Publishers went from 19,673 (2024) down to 15,422 (2025), a drop of 4,251 publishers, or a 22% decrease?

 

Any ideas? Anyone?

 

 

I think I have an idea.

We know that Belarus was one of the two lands newly added to the 'other lands' section of the report, and I've been wondering what the other area added could be. You've reminded me about transistria, and I suspect that this break away state of Moldova was added to the list of areas with where the brothers have legal issues that affect their worship. I believe that the reduction in publishers caused by separating transistria and the rest of Moldova was not included in the -10% loss in publishers there.

 

This, however, still wouldn't explain why they lost 10% of their publishers

Edited 5 hours ago by Jan Brad

[Sepie93]

I have no idea what happend in Moldova, but it seems like that Transnistria might be separated from Moldova in our report, and could be added as the +1 other lands?

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-S911B met Tapatalk

[Jan Brad]

Other lands av. Pub 2024: 210,500

Other lands av. Pub 2025 : 222,500

 

There was a 1.6% increase in 2025 which would bring it to 213,900.

Add Belarus: 213,900+6000 = 219,900

If we add part of Moldova's 22% decrease which had to do with transnistria then we arrive at the figure displayed in the report: 222,500.

Edited 4 hours ago by Jan Brad