I have asked my wife and briefly her former pesky study sister about the anointed and the remnant and the sister was really unsure of the number....I think intentionally because she knows I am a numbers person. How could I approach a question on why the number of the remnant has been stable, in not even slightly increasing, lately.
The sister said that someone can lose the anointment if one is unfaithful, and if one loses their anointment, another anointed will fall in place (incorrect term, but you get the point). Remnant folks that pass away are immediately given their heavenly calling, if I remember correctly, and they are not replaced, since the total number of anointed includes those who have passed as well as the remnant, and this number is fixed at 144,000.
Also, what is the jw logic behind the number being literal and the stuff leading to the number, like the reference to 'those who have not defiled themselves with women', the tribes of Isreal (for the most part) among others being figurative??