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 ("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