Church of Scientology - Membership Statistics

Membership Statistics

It is difficult to obtain reliable membership statistics. The International Association of Scientologists (IAS), the official Church membership system since 1984, has never released figures. Church spokespersons either give numbers for their countries or a worldwide figure. Some national censuses have recently included questions about religious affiliations, though the United States Census Bureau states that it is not the source for information on religion.

In 2007, the German national magazine Der Spiegel reported about 8 million members worldwide, about 6000 of them in Germany, with only 150-200 members in Berlin. In 1993, a spokesperson of Scientology Frankfurt had mentioned slightly more than 30,000 members nationwide.

The organization has said that it has anywhere from eight million to fifteen million members worldwide. Derek Davis stated in 2004 that the Church organization has around 15 million members worldwide. Religious scholar J. Gordon Melton has said that the church's estimates of its membership numbers are exaggerated: "You're talking about anyone who ever bought a Scientology book or took a basic course. Ninety-nine percent of them don't ever darken the door of the church again." Melton has stated that If the claimed figure of 4 million American Scientologists were correct, "they would be like the Lutherans and would show up on a national survey".

The "Scientologists Online" website presents "over 16,000 Scientologists On-Line".

Statistics from other sources:

• In 2001, the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reported that there were 55,000 adults in the United States who consider themselves Scientologists. A survey of American religious affiliations estimated there to be 25,000 Americans identifying as Scientologists.
• The 2001 United Kingdom census contained a voluntary question on religion, to which approximately 48,000,000 chose to respond. Of those living in England and Wales who responded, a total of 1,781 said they were Scientologists.
• In 2001, Statistics Canada, the national census agency, reported a total of 1,525 Scientologists nationwide, up from 1,220 in 1991.
• In 2005, the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution estimated a total of 5,000 – 6,000 Scientologists in that country, and mentioned a count of 12,000 according to Scientology Germany.
• In the 2006 New Zealand census, 357 people identified themselves as Scientologists, although a Church spokesperson estimated there were between 5,000 and 6,000 Scientologists in the country. Earlier census figures were 207 in the 1991 census, 219 in 1996, and 282 in 2001.
• In 2006, Australia's national census recorded 2,507 Scientologists nationwide, up from 1,488 in 1996, and 2,032 in 2001. The 2011 census however found a decrease of 13.7 per cent from the 2006 census.
• In 2011 support for Scientology in Switzerland was said to have experience a steady decline from 3,000 registered members in 1990 to 1,000 members and the organisation was said to be facing extinction in the country. A Church of Scientology spokeswoman rejected the figures insisting that the organisation had 5,000 “passive and active members in Switzerland.”