I personally doubt the validity of the figures reported by the WTS in the first place. In my opinion, if the Society is printing an increase in the number of memorial partakers it's because they want the rank and file to believe there is an increase. Whether or not there has been an actual increase in the number of partakers is of no consequence.
My take..... Despite the fact that WT leaders continue to proclaim the imminent end of the world, they don't really believe it's coming. These men are business men, and they have a business to run. Decreasing figures are more problematic for the Watchtower Society in the long run than increasing figures. If the number of partakers was to continue decreasing, as it should have according to established Watchtower doctrine, it would eventually reach zero. What then? What happens when there are no more "anointed" and the end still hasn't come? Not to mention, who runs the WTS when the FDS class is gone.
The WTS needed an out from their 1935 cutoff date, and the published increase of partakers has provided that. The 1935 date could have become as embarrassing as the 1914 date, given the fact that those who were teenagers in 1935 are about 90 years old today.....