Statistics

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 and on 3 October 2005 they claimed this number to be 32,000.

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. They have claimed that from S2K to June 2000, only 600 people have left.

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

2004 (October)

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.

Members
Status	Number	%
FD	5657	55%
MM	1015	10%
FM	3559	35%
Total	10231	100%

Family Homes
Status	Number	%
FD	395	31%
MM	149	12%
FM	728	57%
Total	1272	100%

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

Location of Total Members
Region	%
North America	14%
Western Europe	13%
Brazil	12%
Other	61%

Location of FD Members
Region	%
Eastern Eurasia	12%
North America	11%
Mexico/Central America	11%
Other	66%

2003 (year-end)

Members
Status	Number	%
CM	7491	70%
FM	3162	30%
Total	10653	100%

2002 (year-end)

	Family Homes			Members
Region	CM	FM	Total	CM	FM	Total	Per Home
Western Europe	85	154	239	820	682	1502	6.3
Eastern 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
Southeast 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
USA/Canada	81	177	258	855	806	1661	6.4
Mexico/Central America	52	55	107	662	256	918	8.6
Spanish South 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: 8

Nationalities
Country	%
USA	25%
Brazilian	10%
Japanese	6%
British	5%
Australian	3.5%
Mexican	3.5%
Argentine	3%
French	3%
Italian	3%
Other	38%

Members by Age
Age	%	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
Total	100%	11297

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	%	Number
1st	33%	3688
2nd & 3rd	67%	7609
Total	100%	11297

When Member FGAs Joined
Decade	%	Number
1960s	2.4%	88
1970s	47.9%	1765
1980s	22.3%	824
1990s	23.0%	848
2000s	4.4%	163
Total	100%	3688

2001 (September)

Members
Status	Number	%
CM	8789	74%
FM	3062	26%
Total	11851	100%

2000 (March)

Members
Status	Number	%
CM	9426	75%
FM	3066	25%
Total	12492	100%

• More Family statistics – March 2000 (PDF)

1999 (June)

Members
Status	Number	%
CM	10219	79%
FM	2750	21%
Total	12969	100%

• More Family statistics – June 1999 (PDF)

1998 (December)

Family Homes
Status	Number	%
CM	807	61%
FM	525	39%
Total	1332	100%

• Detailed statistics: Year-end Review of 1998!

1997 (December)

Family Homes
Status	Number	%
CM	757	57%
FM	566	43%
Total	1323	100%

1996 (December)

Family Homes
Status	Number	%
CM	660	55%
FM	544	45%
Total	1204	100%

1995 (December)

Family Homes
Status	Number	%
CM	564	~50%
FM	556	~50%
Total	1120	100%

1994 (December)

Members
Status	Number	%
CM	8690	69%
FM	3958	31%
Total	12648	100%

Family Homes
Status	Number	%
CM	276	33%
FM	554	67%
Total	830	100%

1975

Reported to have had "4,212 disciples in 580 Colonies in 62 countries".

Births in The Family International