Up until the 1935 teaching was changed, that number was going down. Thereafter, it never stopped going up.Not quite true. From 1953-1969 the number continued to go down every year, halving from 19,183 to 10,360. From 1971-2005 it went down more times than it went up, starting at 10,526 and ending at 8,524. Since then however, it has gone up every year, and at an alarming rate for the GB, more than doubling, now standing at its highest level since they started publishing the figures.
I may be wrong but I think that’s the first time ever that the number of congregations has gone down.
You are not wrong - it's the first decrease since they started publishing the fingures in the Yearbooks.
have they really published the average figure this year
Yes, and they published it last year as well, but in the summary, not the tables.
(say from 65 years of age and older) are highly useless due to their age
Hey man, steady on. I'm 65, and I might be useless, but not "highly" useless!