January 25, 1995

MORE THAN 60 MILLION LUTHERANS WORLDWIDE
96-01-003-FI

  GENEVA (ELCA) -- The number of Lutherans worldwide was more
than 60 million in 1995, according to information released here
by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).  The comparable figures
for 1994 and 1993 were 59.7 million and 58.5 million
respectively.
  The 122 member churches and 12 recognized congregations of the
LWF totaled 56.5 million members in 1995, compared with just
under 56.1 million in 1994 and 54.7 million in 1993.  At the end
of 1995, 3.6 million Lutherans worldwide did not belong to the
LWF, a decrease of 22,400 from the previous year.
  The 7.6-million-member Church of Sweden remained the worldþs
largest Lutheran church, followed by the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America with 5.2 million and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Finland with close to 4.6 million.
  Germany, where the Lutheran tradition has its origin, had the
largest number of Lutherans in any one country, its Lutheran
churches having a combined membership of 14.3 million, ahead of
the United States with 8.3 million.
  The most significant change was an increase in the membership
of the Lutheran church in Madagascar.  The Malagasy Lutheran
Church recorded an increase of 300,000 members compared with the
previous year's figure.
  An increase in the membership of the Estonian Evangelical
Lutheran Church, from 70,209 to 204,000, is due to a change in
the way of counting.  Previously only paying members were
counted, whereas the latest figure refers to baptized members.
  The largest concentration of Lutheranism and the LWF is in
Europe, with over 37.3 million members.  North America has 8.6
million Lutherans, of whom 5.4 million belong to the LWF.  Almost
all of Africa's 7.9 million Lutherans are members of the
federation.  Asia has just under 4.9 million Lutherans, of whom
over 4.7 million belong to the LWF.  Of the nearly 1.4 million
Lutherans in Latin America, over 1.1 million are members of the
LWF.
  The membership statistics are based on information supplied to
the LWF Office for Communication Services by the churches.  Of
the federation's 122 member churches, 72 have supplied
information, as a result of which the membership figures for 39
churches have changed compared with the previous year's figures.
Latest available figures are cited in the case of those churches
whose reply were not received by the end of November 1995.

  Among the data received after the Nov. 30 deadline, the only
  major change is for the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane
  Yesus (EECMY), which last year registered an increase of
  over 234,000 compared with the previous year.  The EECMY's
  membership in 1995 totaled 1,847,116.  This increase has not
  been taken into consideration for the above article or the
  tables of statistics on the following pages.  The Ethiopian
  church's membership has increased from more than 1 million
  in 1993 and more than 1.6 million in 1994.


                    LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION
                     1995 MEMBERSHIP FIGURES

SUMMARY

The following figures give the membership of the 122 LWF member
churches (M) including one associate member church (AM), and 12
recognized congregations (R), as well as other Lutheran churches
or bodies (C) in infrequent contact with the Lutheran World
Federation.

General Summary 1995
122 LWF member churches and 12 recognized congregations
56,521,384
Lutherans outside LWF constituency  3,625,270
TOTAL     60,146,654

               All Lutherans  LWF Membership  Other Contacts
Africa          7,940,742       7,873,287        67,455
Asia            4,873,084       4,757,361       115,723
Europe         37,342,201      37,342,201       -----
Latin America   1,381,655       1,131,878       249,777
North America   8,608,972       5,416,657     3,192,315

TOTAL         60,146,654       56,521,384     3,625,270

Countries with more than 1/2 million Lutherans

Germany             14,290,400
USA                  8,319,591
Sweden               7,630,000
Finland              4,577,106
Denmark              4,539,773
Norway               3,800,000
Indonesia            2,367,539
Tanzania             2,200,000
Ethiopia             1,625,994
Madagascar           1,500,000
India                1,267,787
Brazil               1,184,597
Papua New Guinea       910,000
South Africa           829,483
Namibia                696,000

Lutheran Churches with more than 1/2 million members

Church of Sweden                                        7,630,000
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America                  5,199,048
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland                  4,577,106
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark                  4,539,773
Church of Norway                                        3,800,000
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover (Germany)        3,291,000
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (Germany)        2,685,000
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (USA and Canada)         2,606,370
North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church (Germany)      2,512,000
Evangelical Church in Wurttemberg (Germany)             2,474,000
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania                 2,200,000
Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (Ethiopia)    1,625,994
Protestant Christian Batak Church (Indonesia)           1,559,478
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony (Germany)         1,154,000
Malagasy Lutheran Church (Madagascar)                   1,500,000
Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil 1,000,000
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea           815,000
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa            710,382
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia (Germany)        663,000