LDS portion of Utah population is slimmer
21st November 2008
It's been targeted for a tourism boycott by some gay rights advocates because it is home to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opposes same-sex marriage. But Utah is now less Mormon than ever.
An Associated Press analysis of church membership records used by state planning officials to develop population estimates shows that LDS church members now make up 60.4 percent of the state's population. The number is down from 60.7 percent last year.
The state's population estimates were released Thursday. The percentage has declined every year for nearly two decades, and if the trend continues, church members will make up less than half of Utah's population by 2030.
"The LDS population will still increase, but as a share of the total, that should continue to decline over time," said University of Utah demographer Pam Perlich. "What would cause that to reverse would be an economic collapse and the same people who moved here for jobs leave for jobs. ... But there's a slim-to-none chance that would ever happen."
In Salt Lake County, the state's most populous county and home to church headquarters, Church members are barely holding onto their majority, making up 50.6 percent of the population.
"The church has always extended a hand of friendship and fellowship to those of other faiths who move into Utah and will continue to do so," church spokeswoman Kim Farah said in an e-mail on Thursday.
In recent years, Utah has experienced a demographic shift as its economy thrived and increasing numbers of workers flocked to the state from other parts of the country and world.
"We're just going to bring a much more diverse population here. People are not moving here for family reunions or culture alone. They're coming here for work," Perlich said.
The numbers are "not necessarily bad news for the Mormon church," said Kathleen Flake, an associate professor of American Religious History at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
"They do not want their people to segregate themselves in the Rocky Mountain West," said Flake. "They are a worldwide church, engaged in a worldwide mission. They don't want to be ghettoized in the Rocky Mountain West, they need that strength elsewhere."
Utah's economy is beginning to slow down, but the state's population still grew by 2.2 percent in the past year, to 2.75 million. The church's membership in the state increased by 1.8 percent, numbers released Thursday show.
The church is still making large gains in certain parts of the state. In suburban Utah County, the percentage of church members grew by 3.5 percent. About 76 percent of the population there is LDS.
Morgan County in northern Utah has the largest percentage of church members in the state at 80 percent. Grand County, home to the red-rock tourist destinations of Moab and Arches National Park, has the smallest percentage of church members in the state at 26 percent.
Source: Daily Herald