Word document

Bahá'í World Statistics
August 2001 CE

National Spiritual Assemblies			Local Spiritual Assemblies
Africa	46		Africa			3,808
Americas	43		Americas			3,152
Asia	39		Asia			2,948
Australasia	17		Australasia			856
Europe	37		Europe			976
World Total	182		World Total			11,740
Countries the Bahá'í Faith is established: independent countries			Countries the Bahá'í Faith is established: - dependent territories / overseas departments
Africa	53		Africa		5
Americas	35		Americas		17
Asia	44		Asia		3
Australasia	14		Australasia		13
Europe	44		Europe		8
World Total	190		World Total		46
Localities where Bahá'ís reside			Indigenous tribes, races, and ethnic groups
Africa	30,003		Africa		1,250
Americas	24,502		Americas		340
Asia	59,821		Asia		250
Australasia	6,746		Australasia		250
Europe	6,309		Europe		22
World Total	127,381		World Total		2,112
Continental Counsellors			Auxiliary Board Members
Africa	19		Africa		234
Americas	19		Americas		234
Asia	19		Asia		288
Australasia	11		Australasia		108
Europe	13		Europe		126
World Total	91		World Total		990
Languages into which Bahá'í literature is translated			Bahá'í Publishing Trusts
Africa	266		Africa		7
Americas	172		Americas		3
Asia	174		Asia		9
Australasia	110		Australasia		2
Europe	80		Europe		12
World Total	802		World Total		33

Below are given a comparative table and some charts to get a view of the growth of the Bahá'í Faith.

	1968	± 1986	2001
National Spiritual Assemblies	81	165	182
Local Spiritual Assemblies	6,840	18,232	11,740
Countries the Bahá'í Faith is established: independent countries		187	190
Countries the Bahá'í Faith is established: - dependent territories / overseas departments		45	46
Localities where Bahá'ís reside	31,572	>116,000	127,381
Indigenous tribes, races, and ethnic groups	1,179	>2,100	2,112
Languages into which Bahá'í literature is translated	417	800	802
Bahá'í Publishing Trusts	9	26	33

Note:

The fall in the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies can be explained with the following quotes from the Universal House of Justice:

Ridvan Message of the Universal House of Justice, Ridvan 157, 2000, p. 3:

While the restriction of the formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies to the first day of Ridvan, which took effect in 1997, produced the anticipated decrease in the number of these institutions, the fall was not drastic.

Letters of The Universal House of Justice, 1995 Oct 26, Message to Continental Board of Counsellors, p. 7:

Election of Local Spiritual Assemblies

In developing the Administrative Order, the Guardian established the First Day of Ridvan as the day when all Local Spiritual Assemblies should be elected. During his own lifetime, this practice was followed as the number of Local Assemblies steadily grew to over one thousand.

In the subsequent two decades the Faith expanded greatly, especially in the rural areas of the world, often remote and difficult to reach. In view of this development, the Universal House of Justice decided in 1977 that, in certain cases, when the local friends failed to elect their Spiritual Assembly on the First Day of Ridvan, they could do so on any subsequent day of the Ridvan Festival. This permission did not apply to all localities, but to those that, in the judgement of the National Spiritual Assembly, were partic- ularly affected by such factors as illiteracy, remoteness, and unfamiliarity with concepts of Baha'i Administration. The House of Justice also gave permission at the beginning of the Five Year Plan for Assemblies being formed for the first time to be elected at any point during the year.

These provisions have enabled the believers in a large number of localities to receive assistance in electing their Local Spiritual Assemblies, and much experience has been gained in strengthening Local Assemblies under diverse conditions in a vast array of cultural settings. Nevertheless, in principle, the initiative and responsibility for electing a Local Spiritual Assembly belong primarily to the Baha'is in the locality, and assistance from outside is ultimately fruitful only if the friends become conscious of this sacred responsibility. As progress is made in the training of human resources and in the development of the entire range of Baha'i community life, the capacity of the friends to elect their Local Spiritual Assemblies on their own will certainly grow.

With these thoughts in mind, we have decided that, beginning at Ridvan 1997, the practice of electing all Local Spiritual Assemblies on the First Day of Ridvan will be reinstituted. We recognize that the immediate result may be a reduction in the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies at Ridvan 1997, but we are confident that subsequent years will witness a steady increase.

The National Spiritual Assemblies and their agencies on the one hand, and the Counsellors and their auxiliaries on the other, clearly have a duty to foster the establishment and development of Baha'i communities, including their divinely ordained local institutions. This duty can be discharged mainly through sustained educational programmes which create in the believers the awareness of the importance of the Teachings in every area of their indi- vidual and social lives and which engender in them the desire and determination to elect and support their Local Spiritual Assemblies. These programmes should take full advantage of the provision that has been made for the temporary formation of administrative committees of three or more members in localities where Local Assemblies are not elected, or where the members of a Local Assembly fail to meet.