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Half of the first six new Latter-day Saint temples scheduled to open this year are in the Philippines.
That ratio is remarkable for a single country outside the United States, even one with nearly 900,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Still, that number obscures what lies ahead.
The larger story is that 69% of the next 170 temples the church plans to build are outside the United States.
The following five small tables illustrate the change. They show the number of temples the church operated at 25 year intervals, what percentage were outside the United States and what percentage were in predominantly English-speaking countries.
The first snapshot shows a largely American, English-speaking church halfway through the 20th century.
1950
| Temples | Outside U.S. | English |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 13% | 100% |
1975
| Temples | Outside U.S. | English |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 25% | 88% |
2000
| Temples | Outside U.S. | English |
|---|---|---|
| 102 | 51% | 59% |
2025
| Temples | Outside U.S. | English |
|---|---|---|
| 211 | 53% | 55% |
The internationalization of the church has been a story since the early 1950s and the opening of the Bern Switzerland Temple, but these charts show the acceleration of that growth.
Church leaders already have dedicated two temples this year, to bring the operating total to 213, but the final table looks ahead to the completion of the 170 temples the church has announced for the future.
Future
| Temples | Outside U.S. | English |
|---|---|---|
| 383 | 60% | 46% |
These snapshots are another way to look at the church’s global growth, which is also illustrated by a record number of missions (506) and the number of apostles from outside the United States (four — President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Elders Ulisses Soares, Patrick Kearon and Gérald Caussé).
The church reported in June that it had experienced a record number of convert baptisms for one 12-month period, and the church set a record with 308,000 conversions in 2024. The 2025 number will be reported in April.
In the first quarter of 2025, convert baptisms were up 20% in every region of the world over the previous year’s first quarter, Elder Quentin L. Cook reported.
In the midst of worldwide expansion, President Dallin H. Oaks said earlier this month that future temple announcements will be made in the area where they will be built.
If the 75-year trend continues, that means the announcements of future temples will be as widespread as the location of those temples.
My recent stories
- Elder Matthew S. Holland tells BYU students how he is coping with the loss of his parents (Jan. 20)
- Search to replace UVU President Astrid Tuminez to happen under Utah’s new transition team model (Jan. 16)
About the church
- Follow the prophet — on YouTube.
- See what President D. Todd Christofferson taught Latter-day Saint youth about the covenant path.
- Elder David A. Bednar dedicated Alabang Philippines Temple, where he invited members to “bring the temple into our home."
- Update: The Salt Lake Temple emerges as the scaffolding comes down.
- The First Presidency announced the exact locations for temples in Arizona and Hawaii.
- The Harare Zimbabwe Temple open house is underway.
What I’m reading
- How trusting God led to BYU wide receiver Parker Kingston’s breakout 2025 season.
- 15 ways that Utah stands out in national data.
- I met Ryan Burge because he is a social scientist with the ability, as our Mariya Manzhos put it, turn “complex data into accessible stories that paint a picture of the shifting role of religion in America.” Then I learned he was a pastor, but his church closed. Mariya writes that Burge’s ministry is not over.
- The Baseball Hall of Fame vote this week was fascinating. The first year voters considered Andruw Jones, so few selected him that he avoided elimination from future ballots by just 10 votes. This week, they made him a Hall of Famer. It’s the biggest improvement in one player’s voting in history. The other player who will be inducted this summer is Carlos Beltrán, who got in because every new voter this year selected him despite his role in the Astros trash can cheating scandal. What does that say about cheating?
Behind the scenes
Here is a photo from each of the two temple dedications so far this year.
