Short answer to the
Question: How many Quakers
are there today, and
where?
As the diagram shows, there are about 340,000 Quakers worldwide
now,
compared with about 160,000 in 1940.
Because of
evangelical outreach from the USA to central Africa the
international distribution of Quakers is now quite different from what
it was up to about 50 years ago:
* in 1940 (the blue top bar for each geographical area): 70% of all
Quakers were in North America (14% in Britain, 8%
in Africa)
* in 2000 (the red bar): 46% of all Quakers were in Africa, almost all
in Kenya (27% in
North America, 5%
in Britain)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For more information about the
USA see the answer to the question about America
here.
Much more detail about the international distribution of Quakers in
2005 is availabe
below.
From: The Quakers - a very short introduction
by Pink Dandelion, Oxford
University Press 2008
Quaker numbers (approximate) by
continent and country
and area 2005
From: An Introduction to
Quakerism by Pink Dandelion, Cambridge University Press 2007
(based on information from
Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC))
Total
Africa 157,000 (details
below)
Total North America
121,000 (details
below)
Total Central and South America 57,000 (details
below)
Total
Europe
18,000 (details
below)
Total Asia-West Pacific
14,500 (details
below)
Total
Africa 157,000 of which:
Kenya (total 132,000):
Vihiga Yearly Meeting 15,000
Lugari Yearly Meeting 14,000
East Africa Yearly Meeting (North) 13,000
Elgon RSF 13,000
Elgon East Yearly Meeting 12,000
Malava Yearly Meeting 12,000
Central Yearly Meeting 10,000
Nairobi Yearly Meeting 7,500
Bware Yearly Meeting 7,000
Chavakali Yearly Meeting 7,000
Kakamega Yearly Meeting 7,000
East Africa Yearly Meeting 6,000
Vokoli Yearly Meeting 5,000
Tuloi Yearly Meeting 4,000
Burundi Yearly Meeting 12,000
Uganda Yearly Meeting 3,500
Rwanda Yearly Meeting 3,000
Tanzania Yearly Meeting 3,000
Congo Yearly Meeting 1,000
and a few small meetings including Kinshasa
Total Asia-West
Pacific
14,500 of which:
Indonesia Yearly Meeting 3,000
Philippines Yearly Meeting 3,000
Taiwan Yearly Meeting 3,000
Cambodia Yearly Meeting 2,500
Australia Yearly Meeting 950
India meetings (several) 700
New Zealand Yearly Meeting 600
Nepal Yearly Meeting 500
Japan Yearly Meeting 200
and a few small meetings including Seoul and
Hong Kong
Total Europe and
Middle East 18,000
of
which:
Britain Yearly Meeting 16,000
Ireland Yearly Meeting 1,600
German Yearly Meeting 340
Norway Yearly Meeting 150
Netherlands Yearly Meeting 120
Switzerland Yearly Meeting 100
Sweden Yearly Meeting 100
France Yearly Meeting 70
Belgium & Luxemburg Yearly Meeting 40
and a few small meetings including Barcelona, Budapest, Denmark,
Finland and Moscow
PLUS Ramallah and Brummana (Lebanon)
Back to top
Total North America
121,000 of which:
Evangelical Friends Churches 40,000
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting 12,000
North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM) 11,000
Northwest Yearly Meeting 7,800
Southwest Yearly Meeting 5,600
Western Yearly Meeting 5,300
Indiana Yearly Meeting 4,800
Baltimore Yearly Meeting 4,500
New England Yearly Meeting 4,300
New York Yearly Meeting 3,700
Iowa Yearly Meeting (FUM) 3,500
Wilmington Yearly Meeting 2,000
Pacific Yearly Meeting 1,500
South Appalachian Yearly Meeting 1,300
Northern Yearly Meeting 1,200
Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting 1,200
Illinois Yearly Meeting 1,100
Intermountain Yearly Meeting 1,000
Lake Erie Yearly Meeting 1,000
Alaska Yearly Meeting 1,000
North Pacific Yearly Meeting 900
Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting 800
Great Plains Yearly Meeting 700
Southeastern Yearly Meeting 560
Western Association 500
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Con) 500
Ohio Yearly Meeting (C) 500
North Carolina Yearly Meeting (C) 400
Central Yearly Meeting 300
South Central Yearly Meeting 300
Alaska Conference 200
also Canadian Yearly Meeting 1,200
Total Central
and South America 57,000
of which:
Bolivia Santidad Yearly Meeting 22,000
IE Nacional de Guatemala 20,000
Bolivia INELA Yearly Meeting 8,000
Honduras Yearly Meeting 2,000
Bolivia Central Yearly Meeting 1,300
Peru INELA Yearly Meeting 1,200
Mexico ARIEA 800
El Salvador Yearly Meeting 600
Guatemala Santidad Yearly Meeting 500
Cuba Yearly Meeting 400
Jamaica Yearly Meeting 300
and a few small meetings including Bogota and Monteverde
