t seems that the collation of the reports is accurate at a higher level, but the information reported by individual members is likely more prone to error. This was even more the case when members had to report preaching hours and were incentivised to inflate the figures.
I'm not saying that people don't bullshit about their time in the ministry. But what I am saying is that all this apathy (PIMOs) isn't been reflected in the census. The last census taken, for my country, it is still a solid x2 to what wt says. Clearly the birth/ POMI / fence sitters rate is superseding the apathy that exists with in, as demonstrated by the census. What other conclusion can you come to.
I would estimate the truer figure of JW membership to be sitting around the 10-20million mark. Interesting the lds claims, last time I looked, a membership of 20 million. However activity rates for active membership, is at about 33% or lower =6.6 million LDS world wide The JWs just blow the lds out the door, even with a 25% Pimo rate of the 8.6 million.