2001 Service year statistics

by Skimmer 4 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Skimmer

  Some comments on the 2001 Service Year statistics:

  As i understand it, the 2001 Service Year ended on 2001.09.01 and that all of the numbers generated by the congregations have to be in to Brooklyn by the first of October. Perhaps most of the reports are already there.

  Questions:

  1. Has it been a common practice to announce at least some of the global statistics at the October annual meeting?

  2. If some numbers are announced early next month, can we expect only a few totals like peak publishers and literature distribution, or might we see more detail on a country by country basis?

  3. Is it likely that we will have to wait until the 2002.01.01 _Watchtower_ to get the full tables? (As I recall, this was the traditional time and venue; the yearbook was also made available at the same time.)

  4. Might the official web site also have the 2001 reports? It has had some in the past, but they were not as comprehensive as what appeared in yearbooks and also did not have year-to-year comparisons.

  5. Is there anyone "in the know" who might give us an early peek at the numbers?

  6. As a shining example of WTBTS geographical scholarship, is Alaska still considered to be its own country?

  ----------

  Does anyone care to make some predictions? I will go first:

  1. Every country that has had three or more years of baptism declines will in the upcoming report have four or more years of baptism declines.

  2. The overall publisher number will show an increase from last year, but the percentage increase will be less then last year's.

  3. The number of hours required per baptism in western Europe will reach a new high.
• 

  Moxy

  someone must be able to give us these numbers a little early. i find it comical that in our modern age, they still wait 3 months to 'compile' these for the public.

  my 2nd-derivative projections show 5,896,260 avg pubs for a 2.0% increase, with USA stats holding very nearly at 0%.

  mox
• 

  Seeker

  Yes, you hear some figures at the Annual meeting, but not everything. Remember, the Annual meeting is held just a few days into October.

  Usually the earliest you see the complete set of numbers in in the Yearbook. Typically some people get these in early-to-mid December if Bethelites personally mail them copies. This predates the arrival of the yearbooks by a few weeks, and even the 1/1 issue of the WT in some cases.

  If you do not have such a Bethel friend, then the 1/1 WT tells all when it arrives in December.
• 

  nicolaou

  Bizzarely, some figures may actually improve!

  As tens of thousands of JW's become inactive or are DA'd/DF'd their usually lacklustre field service reports cease to effect a dead weight 'drag' on the figures.

  For example:
  Of 10 publishers, 8 report 15 hours each, 5 rv's each and 2 bible studies between them. The other 2 have simply been putting in a 'token' report of 1 or 2 hours to avoid the stigma of being labelled 'inactive'.

  The averages (of which the Society seem so obsessed) are thus:

  Hours = 12.3 Return Visits = 4 Bible Studies = 0.2

  Take the 'deadwood' (people like me) out of the equation and you get the new inproved figures:

  Hours = 15 Return Visits = 5 Bible Studies = 0.25

  No extra hours have been put in, no extra return visits have been carried out, no extra bible studies have been conducted and yet these figures will be presented as evidence of "Jehovah's backing"!

  Go figure!

  Nic'
• 

  metatron

  In similar fashion, given the continuing decline in
  regular pioneers in the US and elsewhere, they may
  aux pioneer instead or increase the average for publishers.

  ...or fade away and never be heard from again

  metatron