You don’t think self-identification is a more truthful measure than Watchtower reported publishers?
On another thread you insisted morale was not affected by congregation mergers.
On this thread you say morale is so low among JWs that they’re ashmed to identify themselves as JWs. But we should count them as JWs anyway, on the basis of Watchtower publisher numbers, even if they don’t count themselves as JWs.
In reality census returns are some of the most detailed and reliable statistics on religion and make comparisons across religious groups possible.
The fact that JWs have been declining in Canada and Australia, in contrast to publishers, raises questions about the accuracy and usefulness of Watchtower statistics.
One internal figure they can’t easily fudge is congregation numbers, and they are coming down in the United States, Germany, Japan and elsewhere.