Talk:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kiribati

2020 Census

Only 6,720 members during last available Census. Never trust the numbers given by a church. Arorae (talk) 20:39, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

Arorae, Thank you for finding and adding the 2020 Census information. Membership data is of course going to be different than Census Data as membership data generally shows number of those that have been baptized or those under the age eight and under born to members. Where possible, I like to see all survey data and census data which is unfortunately unavailable for much of the world. The church publishes membership data for much of the world which makes it easier to compare but includes those baptized but no longer affiliating. Also, I'm not sure about this census, but some active members will sometimes defer the question or answer it as "Christian", particularly in areas where the member may feel intolerance. But with 2 stakes and 3 districts, 6,720 members currently associating with the church is probably about right. See Membership defined which is also what membership link in infobox goes to. Dmm1169 (talk) 05:06, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Dmm1169 you're welcome, the complete results of 2020 Census are very interesting and very accurate. There is no risk at all that some people defer the question as there is no intolerance at all in Kiribati and people are proud being LDS (because for many of them, it is considered more "wealthy" that the other Christian churches, with less funds). For many of them, it means a better education, at BYU or in the US, better jobs and so. But there is no way that 20,000 LDS could exist in Kiribati, even those only baptized. Since 1990, 2010 and 2015 Census, there are more and more people declaring as LDS members, the total is really increasing, much more than any kind of church there. It is a success story, by the way.--Arorae (talk) 19:43, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Arorae Again, thank you for your input. There's a difference between overall number of members and those that attend on a regular basis or those that affiliate. I'm not from, visited, or personally know anyone in Kiribati. I do know membership statistics is a count of living people with records in the church. See Membership defined for specific definition. It's not sacrament meeting attendance or survey. I do post survey data when they're available. For example, the US doesn't have religion in its census, but PEW forum of Religion and Public Live periodically does a survey showing percent of population self-identifying with the LDS Church. That is posted both the introduction in each "LDS in [U.S. state]" pages as well as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics (United States). I'd like to see survey data that consistently spans multiple countries/regions. Unfortunately, due to the size of the church in most major countries, or due to the generality of religious organizations in surveys(split only between major world religions, not denominations), I've yet to see this.

There are a handful of countries, now including Karibati, that I've seen have census data which is listed in the header for each. The census mythology and response rate on the question(s) in the survey varies among these countries, and people affiliated with multiple religious organizations generally respond with one. However, I do like this additional information and so I've created the Census line in Template:Infobox LDS in Country to allow this to be inputted into the infobox.--Dmm1169 (talk) 20:49, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

thanks for your input, but as you can not always write properly Kiribati (you wrote it once Karibati…), I can suppose, as you said, that you don't know very well this remote country, as I do because I have also LDS family living there. I also noticed that you declare yourself as a LDS member, and this is a bias, a very delicate one, but you seem in good faith when you are contributing, thanks again. For your info, everybody attends at the Sunday mass, especially in very small communities like the ones in Kiribati, as an absence is well and immediately noticed. I will consider that the membership as defined by each kind of church is always overestimated (and especially LDS that may consider you a member even if someone put you on the membership list, without noticing). It is not an attack but a fact, as I have seen such (huge) overestimations in very different Christian churches around the world. It is the reason I think we should never consider those figures as checked and trustfull, but only as church "propaganda", not even based on real figures. Here 20,000 "hypothetical" LDS members to confront with only 6,720 in the real life.--Arorae (talk) 23:39, 4 August 2022 (UTC)