The Worldwide Indexing Event that took place July 15-17, had more than 116,000 volunteers participate in indexing over 10 million global family records. The event had more volunteers help index records than last year when 82,039 volunteers participated. The goal for the event sponsored by FamilySearch was to have 72,000 volunteers index at least one batch per person.
This year the event saw a 40 percent increase in indexing participation. Volunteers ranged from 8 to 65 years old and came from all around the globe. The majority of volunteers came from North America, but the event saw a significant increase in participants from Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands. Asia had 14 times more participation than last year, according to an event press release.
Volunteers who had not participated in indexing before also got involved during the worldwide event. One-fourth of this year's participants had never indexed before, according to Shipley Munson, FamilySearch International's senior vice president of marketing.
FamilySearch hopes that volunteers new and old will continue to help index records, even though the event is over.
"We challenge them and others who did not have a chance to participate to continue to help others make vital family discoveries through their personal indexing effort," Munson said. "Fortunately, we all can continue to contribute to this meaningful initiative throughout the year."