In the recent 2022 Annual Statistical Report (ASR), we published data on the age of our church membership for the first time. The age profile of church members has been a common statistical question posed to us, and we are pleased that we can now begin answering it, thanks to the increasing use of membership software by our Divisions and attached territories. By using the Adventist Church Management System (ACMS) or eAdventist software, Divisions are able to obtain and download accurate age statistics on their congregations. Since this is a new report and the data collected is based on the nine Divisions that have partially or completely implemented use of these online databases, the data reported in the 2022 ASR is preliminary. In time, as more Divisions utilize membership data software and do so more completely, we will be able to provide a more thorough picture of the age ranges of our worldwide Church membership.
The chart below shows the overall world totals for each age category. In essence, while there are considerable variations among regions, our youngest church members globally (ages birth through 20) comprise 23%, the working-age members (ages 21–65) comprise the largest category (65%), and our aging members (ages 66 to over 80) comprise only 12%. It will be interesting to see how these broad proportions shift, if at all, as Divisions complete implementation of ACMS and other Divisions adopt it, providing more and more detailed data.
The chart below shows the percentage of membership by age group for each of the nine Divisions. It should be noted that not all members entered in ACMS and eAdventist have had their ages stated; however, more than 90% of the members in membership systems have recorded their ages and thus, we have a huge sample which allows us to generalize with some confidence.
Age Statistics by Category: Charts below show individual bar graphs for each age category and responding division.
Ages up to 20. The TED reports the highest percentage of ages up to 20 at 39%, whereas the EUD reports only 3% in this category.
Ages 21–35. The WAD reports the highest percentage in this category at 36%; followed closely by the ECD at 32%. The EUD and TED report the lowest, at 14%.
Ages 36–50. The WAD again leads in this category by a small margin at 26%. This category appears to be the most consistently high for all Divisions, ranging from 18% to 26%.
Ages 51–65. The EUD reports the highest percentage of ages in this range at 28%; the ECD reports the lowest at 11%.
Ages 66–80. The EUD again reports the highest percentage of members in this category at 20%. Again, the ECD reports the lowest at 4%.
Ages over 80. The NSD reports the highest percentage of ages over 80 with 15%, followed by the EUD at 11%. All other Divisions report much lower memberships in this category ranging from 1% to 6%.
In time, as more Divisions utilize the ACMS membership collection software, we hope to obtain more accurate age statistics which are important for understanding the dynamics of our ever-evolving Adventist Church structure.
*To view the 2022 ASR or previous editions, please visit www.adventiststatistics.org
Published by ASTR on 4/12/23