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3,179

It's that time if the year again, when I crunch some Unitarian numbers. The Annual Report has landed heavily on my doorstep and I turn right away to look at reporting church membership numbers, and the total number reported.

And guess what? Numbers are down again.

3,179 members of Unitarian congregations reported. This is down 205 people from 3,384 reported last year. A drop of 6%, which is a pretty big yearly drop.

Here, again, is how the numbers look over the last few years:

2005: 3952
2006: 3754
2007: 3711
2008: 3642
2009: 3658
2010: 3672
2011: 3560
2012: 3468
2013: 3384
2014: 3179

This gives a decade drop of 773 people or about 20%. The Unitarian community is one fifth smaller than it was a decade ago.

There are of course more than things that could be said about all of this. But these numbers should not be ignored by any of us.


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