Statistics

From XFamily - Children of God
Revision as of 02:20, 24 April 2005 by Monger (talk | contribs) (added 2004 Year-End Demographics! (less detailed than previous stats))

According to the Children of God, there were 130 communes or "colonies" in 15 countries in 1972. In 1993, 7,000 of the 10,000 members were under 18 years of age. Recent statistics by The Family International puts full-time and fellow members at just over 11,200 in over 100 countries (around 4,000 adult full-time members and 4,000 children). Some estimates have placed the total number of people that have passed through the group at 35,000. In the year 2000 the group claimed this number to be only 26,000 ("Stay on the Wall!", CM/FM#3303 June 2000).

Sociologists have observed that many organizations exaggerate their numbers. This is especially true of new religious movements (or any new movement) with respect to the number of followers. The Family International has consistently claimed many thousands of followers and their "official" count has remained around 10,000 for years (± 2,000). However, this number includes children and babies as "followers", and the number of members under the age of 15 is close to that of those 16 and older.

The Family International has significantly downplayed the numbers of their defectors. This is especially true of the second generation.

The number of Family Disciple (FD) members (previously called Charter Members or CM) has been declining year by year since 1998.

2004 Year-End Demographics

In 2004, the creation of the Missionary Member (MM) category of membership and the change to the minimum Family Disciple (FD; previously Charter Member or CM) home size from the previous four members age 16+ to now six members age 18+ brought major changes affecting Family homes statistics. Note that the cutoff date for the mandatory FD home size adjustment was late January 2005, so the following statistics (from the end of October 2004) do not reflect the full repercussions of this change.


Family Homes Family Membership
FD MM FM Total FD MM FM Total
395 149 728 1272 5657 1015 3559 10231

Note: At the time these statistics were compiled, 147 FD homes had less than the required six members aged 18 and older, so the breakdown of members and homes in each membership category may be significantly different today. In particular, the number of MM homes is expected to have increased.


Generations
Group Percentage Number
1st 37% 3807
2nd 58% 5903
3rd 5% 521
Total 100% 10231


2002 Year-End Demographics

Family Homes Family Membership
Region CM FM Total CM FM Total Per Home
W. Europe 85 154 239 820 682 1502 6.3
E. Eurasia 80 34 114 726 121 847 7.4
Africa 55 10 65 576 33 609 9.4
Mideast 27 3 30 442 18 460 15.3
Indian Area 41 13 54 528 54 582 10.8
S.E. Asia 25 30 55 252 189 441 8
China/Pacific 67 31 98 586 155 741 7.6
Japan 52 39 91 721 179 900 9.9
US/Canada 81 177 258 855 806 1661 6.4
Mexico/C. America 52 55 107 662 256 918 8.6
Spanish S. America 68 63 131 801 340 1141 8.7
Brazil 85 78 163 1079 416 1495 9.2
Total 718 687 1405 8048 3249 11297 Avg: 9
Nationalities
Country Percentage
USA 25%
Brazil 10%
Japan 6%
UK 5%
Australia 3.5%
Mexico 3.5%
Argentina 3%
France 3%
Italy 3%
Other 38%


Members by Age
Age Percentage Number
0-11 32% 3615
12-15 14% 1582
16-20 13% 1469
21-29 12% 1355
30s 6% 678
40s 15% 1694
50+ 8% 904
Gender
Ages Female Male
0-11 48% (1735) 52% (1880)
12-15 ~50% (791) ~50% (791)
16-20 52% (764) 48% (705)
21-39 57% (1159) 43% (874)
40+ 47% (1221) 53% (1377)
Total 51% 49%
Generations
Group Percentage Number
1st 33% 3688
2nd & 3rd 67% 7609
Total 100% 11297
When Member FGAs Joined
Decade Percentage Number
1960s 2.4% 88
1970s 47.9% 1765
1980s 22.3% 824
1990s 23.0% 848
2000s 4.4% 163
Total 100% 3688