Full-Time Missionaries

As of December 31, 2109, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had 67,021 full-time missionaries serving. The graph below shows the number of missionaries from 1977 (the first year I can find that the Church reported the number of missionaries serving) through the present. This is according to the Church’s annual statistical reports. See the chart further below for the exact numbers for each year.

The spike in missionaries in 2013 was due to the October 2012 announcement from the Church changing the age requirement for missionaries (down to 18 for young men and 19 for young women). This created a temporary influx of missionaries as a large group of young women aged 19 to 21 were suddenly eligible to serve missions.

The dip in missionaries serving from 2003 through 2012 is generally attributed to two factors: 1) a natural demographic decline in the number of youth in the missionary age range, and 2) the raising of the bar that are the standards for requirements to serve a mission as a result of Elder Ballard’s October 2002 General Conference talk, The Greatest Generation of Missionaries.

Church-Service Missionaries

In 2010, the Church started reporting the number of Church-Service missionaries that were serving. At the end of 2019, the number was 31,333 Church-Service missionaries. Here is the graph of that data and the full chart of data is below.

Number of Missionaries Called

The number of Missionaries called to go on a mission in a given year (as opposed to the number of missionaries serving at a given time) has also been reported by the Church through the annual almanac printed by Deseret News, but I haven’t been able to get the most recent years. From what I have found, we see that those numbers also peaked in 2002 at 36,196 and has since leveled off to the present, roughly 30,000 called per year.

Data Table: Number of Full-time Missionaries Serving from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Year End Full-Time Missionaries 1977 25,300 1978 27,669 1979 29,454 1980 29,953 1981 29,700 1982 26,300 1983 26,565 1984 27,655 1985 29,265 1986 31,803 1987 34,750 1988 36,132 1989 39,739 1990 43,651 1991 43,395 1992 46,025 1993 48,708 1994 47,311 1995 48,631 1996 52,938 1997 56,531 1998 57,853 1999 58,593 2000 60,784 2001 60,850 2002 61,638 2003 56,237 2004 51,067 2005 52,060 2006 53,164 2007 52,686 2008 52,494 2009 51,736 2010 52,225 2011 55,410 2012 58,990 2013 83,035 2014 85,147 2015 74,079 2016 70,946 2017 67,049 2018 65,137 2019 67,021

Source: Church Annual Statistical Reports, 1978-2019

Data Table: Number of Church-Service Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Year End Church-Service Missionaries 2010 20,813 2011 22,299 2012 22,961 2013 24,032 2014 30,404 2015 31,779 2016 33,695 2017 36,172 2018 37,963 2019 31,333

Source: Church Annual Statistical Reports, 2010-2019

Number of Missionaries Called

Year Missionaries Year Missionaries Year Missionaries Year Missionaries 1830 16 1876 211 1922 886 1968 7,178 1831 58 1877 154 1923 812 1969 6,967 1832 72 1878 152 1924 867 1970 7,590 1833 41 1879 179 1925 1,131 1971 8,344 1834 111 1880 219 1926 1,236 1972 7,874 1835 84 1881 199 1927 1,017 1973 9,471 1836 80 1882 237 1928 1,193 1974 9,811 1837 52 1883 248 1929 1,058 1975 14,446 1838 16 1884 205 1930 896 1976 13,928 1839 67 1885 235 1931 678 1977 14,561 1840 80 1886 209 1932 399 1978 15,860 1841 100 1887 282 1933 525 1979 16,590 1842 45 1888 242 1934 843 1980 16,600 1843 374 1889 249 1935 960 1981 17,800 1844 586 1890 283 1936 899 1982 18,260 1845 84 1891 331 1937 1,079 1983 19,450 1846 32 1892 324 1938 1,146 1984 19,720 1847 40 1893 317 1939 1,088 1985 19,890 1848 55 1894 162 1940 1,194 1986 20,798 1849 58 1895 526 1941 1,257 1987 21,001 1850 50 1896 746 1942 629 1988 22,619 1851 44 1897 922 1943 261 1989 25,609 1852 158 1898 943 1944 427 1990 26,255 1853 33 1899 1,059 1945 400 1991 24,861 1854 119 1900 796 1946 2,297 1992 28,716 1855 65 1901 522 1947 2,132 1993 28,774 1856 130 1902 848 1948 2,161 1994 27,912 1857 88 1903 658 1949 2,363 1995 29,015 1858 0 1904 699 1950 3,015 1996 31,227 1859 18 1905 716 1951 1,801 1997 33,726 1860 96 1906 1,015 1952 872 1998 33,229 1861 19 1907 930 1953 1,750 1999 33,915 1862 27 1908 919 1954 2,022 2000 34,503 1863 50 1909 1,014 1955 2,414 2001 34,684 1864 52 1910 933 1956 2,572 2002 36,196 1865 71 1911 822 1957 2,518 2003 30,467 1866 32 1912 769 1958 2,778 2004 29,548 1867 133 1913 858 1959 2,847 2005 30,587 1868 32 1914 684 1960 4,706 2006 30,653 1869 250 1915 621 1961 5,793 2007 30,384 1870 46 1916 722 1962 5,630 2008 30,312 1871 167 1917 543 1963 5,781 2009 29,168 1872 132 1918 245 1964 5,886 2010 30,563 1873 35 1919 1,211 1965 7,139 1874 98 1920 889 1966 7,021 1875 197 1921 880 1967 6,475

Source: LDS Church Almanac by Deseret News