Agreed with the fake counts. BITD we were instructed to count ONLY those who were actually paying attention. Newborns...not counted, sleeping during the meeting...not counted and so on. Now days the attendance figures are artificially inflated by counting every breathing soul.
And still in the area where I was at one time PIMI the attendance has dropped from the high eighties and low nineties at every meeting to normally high twenties to low thirties, and the occasional mid forties, if there are some visitors. I am just waiting for someone that still attends to let me know that this congregation has been merged. Some already have been in the immediate area. From nine congregations in a fifty mile (US) radius less than ten years ago to a current five, along with buildings sold off.