Bahá’í World/Volume 32/Statistics

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The Bahá’í World Volume 32

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[Page 241]

Statistics

GENERAL STATISTICS
Worldwide Bahá’í population	More than five million
Countries/dependent territories where the Bahá’í Faith is established	191 countries/ 45 territories
Continental Counsellors	81
Auxiliary Board members	990
National/Regional Spiritual Assemblies	183
Local Spiritual Assemblies	9,631
Localities where Bahá’ís reside	More than 100,000
Indigenous tribes, races, and ethnic groups represented in the Bahá’í community	2,112
Languages into which Bahá’u’lláh’s writings have been translated	802
Publishing Trusts	33

[Page 242]

Geographic Distribution of Local Spiritual Assemblies by Continent

• Asia 2,186
• Americas 2,741
• Africa 3,067
• Europe 860
• Australasia 777

Number of National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies

(Bar chart showing growth from 1923 to 2004, with values on the vertical axis ranging from 0 to 200 and the final data point in 2004 at approximately 180.) [Page 243]

Social and Economic Development

Bahá’í development activities are initiated either by individuals or groups of believers or by Bahá’í administrative institutions. Together, these activities contribute to a global process of learning about a Bahá’í approach to social and economic development. They presently fall into three general categories.

ACTIVITIES OF FIXED DURATION

Most Bahá’í social and economic development efforts are fairly simple activities of fixed duration in which Bahá’ís around the world address the problems and challenges faced by their localities through the application of spiritual principles. These activities either originate in the Bahá’í communities themselves or represent responses to invitations from other organizations. It is estimated that in 2003–2004 there were several thousand endeavors of this kind, including clean-up projects, health camps and the provision of various other types of services, workshops and seminars on such themes as race unity and the advancement of women, and short-term training courses.

SUSTAINED PROJECTS

The second category of Bahá’í social and economic development consists of approximately 550 ongoing projects. The vast majority are academic and tutorial schools, while others focus on areas such as literacy, basic health care, moral education, child care, agriculture, the environment, and microenterprise. Some of these projects are administered by nascent development organizations, which have the potential to grow in complexity and in their range of influence.

ORGANIZATIONS WITH CAPACITY TO UNDERTAKE COMPLEX ACTION

Certain Bahá’í development efforts have evolved into development organizations with relatively complex programmatic structures and significant spheres of influence. They systematically train human resources and manage a number of lines of action to address problems of local communities and regions in a coordinated, interdisciplinary manner. Also included in this category are several institutions—especially large schools—which, although focusing only on one field, [Page 244]have the potential to make a significant impact. In this category there are currently 45 such organizations.