April 2026 General Conference Stats: Record Baptisms, But the Birth Problem Persists

Abstract

Analysis of the 2025 LDS Church statistical report. Convert baptisms hit an all-time high and missionary productivity ticked up, but births to active families have flattened — meaning convert growth is now offsetting demographic shortfalls rather than adding to organic growth. Long-term implications for Church composition are significant.

Findings for Latter-day Saints

• Convert baptisms reached 385,490 in 2025 — an all-time high, surpassing the early 1990s peak.
• Missionary count exceeded 75,000 — nearly triple the 1980 level.
• Converts per missionary improved to ~4.9, but remains roughly half the 1980s rate (~8).
• Annual membership growth fell to ~2%, down from ~6% in the 1970s–80s.
• Children of Record births were 91,835 — flat, and lower than 1980 despite membership tripling.
• Births per 1,000 members fell to 5.13, down from over 20 in the early 1980s.

Limitations in methodology

Substack blog analysis of Church-reported statistics; "Children of Record" only counts blessings within active families and undercounts births to less-active members.

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Cite this study

Bass, A. (2026). April 2026 General Conference Stats: Record Baptisms, But the Birth Problem Persists. Mormon Metrics (Substack). https://mormonmetrics.com/p/april-2025-general-conference-stats

Alex Bass. "April 2026 General Conference Stats: Record Baptisms, But the Birth Problem Persists." Mormon Metrics (Substack), 2026. https://mormonmetrics.com/p/april-2025-general-conference-stats.

@article{bass_2026_april_conference_stats_births,
  title = {April 2026 General Conference Stats: Record Baptisms, But the Birth Problem Persists},
  author = {Alex Bass},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Mormon Metrics (Substack)},
  url = {https://mormonmetrics.com/p/april-2025-general-conference-stats},
}