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2009-11-03 issue:

MWC is growing

1.6 million Anabaptists on new map

by Mennonite World Conference

Print Article

A new Mennonite World Conference (MWC) map shows that Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and related churches (national conferences) can now be found in 80 countries around the world. Baptized membership has climbed to slightly more than 1.6 million.

The new map will go into a second printing with revised numbers from the first printing. The new figures for global Anabaptists by continent are as follows:
Africa, 592,106;
Asia, 265,447;
Latin America, 169,864;
Europe, 64,740;
North America, 523,969.

This makes a grand total of 1,616,126, up from the 1,612,301 total indicated on the map's first printing.

Africa, the top continental region since 2003, continues to have the highest percentage of all global baptized members, with just under 37 percent. Second is North America (32.4 percent), followed by Asia (16.4 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (10.5 percent) and Europe (4 percent).

The six countries with the highest numbers of baptized members are the same as in 2006, but the order again has changed. Ethiopia with 172,306 members has moved into third place, ahead of both India (156,922 members) and Canada (136,866 members). The United States still ranks in first place (387,103 members), and the Democratic Republic of Congo is second (220,444 members). Indonesia (88,458 members) ranks sixth.

Copies of the map will be available for purchase from MWC offices. The map will also be posted on the MWC Web site.