Interesting Pew Stats on JWs--Alarming Trends for the Borg

by Cadellin 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Cadellin

  Someone may have linked to this already, but the this interactive page in the Pew Religion Study is pretty interesting, especially when you look at the trends for JW between 2007 and 2014. Here's what it shows:

  JWs are increasingly non-white. In fact, the percentage of white JWs has decreased from 2007 to 2014 by 12%, while Hispanic JWs have increased by 8%. and black JWs by 5%, Asians by 1%. IOW, almost half of all JWs were white in 2007 but by 2014, only a little more than a third were. This supports what many have observed--much of the increase is in foreign language, esp. Spanish.

  JWs are increasingly poor. When you look at the trend from 2007-2014, the reason for the June JW broadcast money pitch becomes clear. While never well-off, even at the best of times, the number of JWs who make less than $30,000 has increased, while the number who make $50,000 and over has shrunk dramatically (from 35% to 26%). That means only about a quarter of JWs earn enough to be categorized as middle-class.

  JWs are increasingly old. In 2007, 60% of JWs were under 50. In 2014, that percentage dropped to 49%.

  JWs are increasingly female. In 2007, 60% of JWs were women; by 2014, 65% were women, meaning men make up a little more than a third!

  These are dramatic changes in a space of only seven years, I think. If you extrapolate another seven years, you can see how the Borg might be in real trouble, especially if the GB are relying on "wealthy" American JWs to bankroll the worldwide work.
• 

  DJS

  Thanks Cadellin,

  This places a rational face on the image we have expected to see. Old, poor, uneducated, female and non-white. Dark Lords, are you listening? You continue to rail against college and career while begging for $ all the more often - from poor uneducated women. How is that working out for you?
• 

  Oubliette

  Old, poor, female minorities. Not a healthy outlook.
  
• 

  cognisonance

  There is another tread on this same study: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/263880001/pew-research-study-on-religion

  Also I did some analysis of the tends and only the non-white trend is statistically significant at 5% CI. I'll reproduce that post here:

  I did some frequentest statistics (proportion hypothesis testing) for data that had sample size values. And all but the increase in non-white demographics are not statistically significant at the 5% level (meaning due to random sampling it's unlikely to tell us anything, like the percentage of men in 2014 being 35% compared to 40% in 2007 - it's very likely that the proportion of men have remained the same in the past 7 years, same goes for proportions of young, poor, and educated. Though at the 10% confidence level, the decrease in young people would be significant, so I suppose more data would be helpful to be more confidence in that finding).

  Increase in non-white demographics: p=0.005744

  Decrease in men: p=0.1619

  Decrease in people aged 18-29: p=0.07628

  Increase in those with college education: p=0.1077

  Increase in those making less than $30,000: p=0.1431

  If anyone wants to check my work, here is my code from R, and you can get the data from this pdf (for the proportion tests I took the percentages and multiplied them by the sample size and rounded, so there is some loss of accuracy in my tests as a resullt.
• 

  Village Idiot

  Religion loves misery and poverty. It gives them (false) hope and escape from their misery. Blacks and Hispanics are the most impoverished in the general population.
• 

  clarity

  LOVE this! Hahahh this is biting them in the ass! GB going to sitting there with egg on their faces big time. Think about all those female witlesses ........no hubbies ....no sex! Mostly old men available now ....haha no babies either! Used to be if a sister was over 30 she very well could be sitting on the shelf for the rest of her life. GB have no answers to that. Just wait till the new world, all the little boys will grow up and you will get younger and shazzamm......... a hubbie for you too....aaww! What a fricken crazy cult. All those poor young sisters today better start working toward a career, because there are only a handful of old men or nerds to pick from today!!!!

  clarity
• 

  Village Idiot

  Clarity, I love your clarity.
• 

  millie210

  Village Idiot
  Clarity, I love your clarity

  Me too!

  And dont forget Clarity, that in their infinite wisdom the GB has now decreed that all these sisters shouldnt look twice at a male who is not at least a Ministerial Servant!
• 

  adjusted knowledge

  I didn't see this post, and started one. I will just copy and paste here.

  • The Pew survey I've been reading is quite lengthy, but filled with interesting information. It really explains a lot of the social issues. Impact of little education, donation issues, the issues of women finding marriage partners. It is a nice snap shot of the JW world.
    

  • http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

    I thought back in the 90's when I was active that JW made up about 2% of the population. However they only make up .8%. I could be wrong but I thought it was more twenty years ago.

    My main comment is that in the last 20 years the racial composition of the religion has dramatically changed to minorities. This could help explain the money shortage they claim. A huge rise in black and Hispanic membership which are traditionally lower income in American society, will impact donations. I know it varies from congregation to congregation but historically the two growing demographics (Blacks & Hispanics) are in the lower income bracket. This information is just for America, so when you factor in the growth in poor countries (Philippines, Mexico, Africa...) the bleed for the Watchtower could be larger now than it was 20 years ago.

    I know it has been mentioned the average income level of JW is low, and this just compounds the issue.

    "Differences in income across religious traditions largely mirror the differences in educational attainment. Jews and Hindus are among the groups most likely to report an annual household income of $100,000 or more (44% of Jews and 36% of Hindus). By contrast, large shares of members of the historically black Protestant tradition (53%), Jehovah’s Witnesses (48%) and people who say their religion is “nothing in particular” but that religion is at least somewhat important in their lives (47%) report household incomes of under $30,000 a year." - Pew Research. America's Changing Religious Landscape. May 12, 2015

    No wonder "sisters" have problems finding marriage mates inside the Watchtower.

    "Roughly two-thirds of Jehovah’s Witnesses are women" - Pew Research. May 12, 2015.

    Wow, 66%? So a young JW woman has to compete for low income, non-educated, and perhaps much older men.

    Hmm, If I was a JW pioneer, that would be my advertising message to guys..
• 

  JW GoneBad

  This pew data supports one thing I see less and less of among Jehovah's Witnesses ...strong JW united families. In my circuit I see lots and lots of single sisters from broken marriages. Not having strong united families cannot be good for a religious organization.