Facts and Statistics

Close
    Show:Hide:
    Show mapHide map

    Turkey Click here for the Turkey Newsroom

    708

    Total Church Membership

    1-in-

    7

    Congregations

    0 Wards
    7 Branches

    History

    Early leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preached in Turkey in 1850, recognizing present-day Ephesus as the New Testament home of the Christian congregation to which Paul, Timothy and John belonged. In May 1854, Latter-day Saints organized a congregation in Turkey. It consisted of British Latter-day Saint soldiers who, along with allied forces from Turkey and France, fought against Russia in the Crimean War.

    In 1884, the Church established the Turkish Mission and sent Jacob Spori, born in the Swiss Alps, to preach in Turkey. Three months after arriving in Istanbul and teaching himself the Turkish language, Spori began preaching. While there, he also taught English, French and German. Mischa Markow, a Hungarian living in Istanbul, joined the Church in 1887. After his baptism, he returned to Hungary to preach. In September 1889, the first Armenian converts were baptized in Aintab. For many years Church growth in Turkey was slow but efforts during recent decades have led to the organization of several new congregations. The first of these was organized in Ankara in October 1979. In 1991 the Church sent an estimated 13,000 blankets, 80,000 pounds of clothing, and funds for medical supplies to aid Kurdish refugees in Turkey.

    Africa

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    849,568

    Members

    2,721

    Congregations

    Missions

    45Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    423

    Temples

    6Temples

    Asia

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    1,298,181

    Members

    2,113

    Congregations

    Missions

    45Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    402

    Temples

    10Temples

    Europe

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    507,748

    Members

    1,296

    Congregations

    Missions

    35Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    663

    Temples

    14Temples

    North America

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    9,637,503

    Members

    18,423

    Congregations

    Missions

    175Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    3,054

    Temples

    120Temples

    Oceania (Pacific)

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    599,065

    Members

    1,308

    Congregations

    Missions

    17Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    318

    Temples

    11Temples

    South America

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    4,320,129

    Members

    5,629

    Congregations

    Missions

    97Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    1,355

    Temples

    25Temples