Latter-day Saint

The Latter-day Saint movement — commonly known as Mormon — is a Restoration tradition founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith in upstate New York. Smith taught that he had received a new volume of scripture, the Book of Mormon, which he translated from golden plates revealed by an angel named Moroni, and that God had called him to restore the original Christian Church that had fallen into apostasy. The largest body in the movement is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, headquartered in Salt Lake City and led by a president regarded as a living prophet alongside the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Scripture includes the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Distinctive practices include baptism by immersion, temple ordinances (endowments, sealings, and baptisms for the dead), tithing, and an expectation of full-time missionary service. The Church reports roughly 17 million members worldwide.

Countries by Latter-day Saint Population (10)

1. 1. 🇹🇴 Tonga 19.7%
2. 2. 🇼🇸 Samoa 16.9%
3. 3. 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands 5.7%
4. 4. 🇰🇮 Kiribati 5.6%
5. 5. 🇻🇺 Vanuatu 1.8%
6. 6. 🇺🇸 United States 1.6%
7. 7. 🇫🇲 Micronesia 1.5%
8. 8. 🇨🇻 Cape Verde 1%
9. 9. 🇺🇾 Uruguay 0.2%
10. 10. 🇨🇴 Colombia 0.1%

Note: This list reflects only countries where the CIA World Factbook — our data source — explicitly uses the “Latter-day Saint” label. Adherents in many other countries are rolled into broader buckets such as Protestant, Evangelical, or country-specific denominations, so this ranking undercounts global presence.