Q: Does the officially reported membership number of the LDS religion include “children of record”? In other words, as of 2007, the LDS religion reports 13,193,999 members. Does that number include children of members younger than 8, or are they excluded from that number?
A: Several members of the MSSA who are in positions to know exactly how this works informed us that it is as follows: Children of members (a.k.a. “children of record”) are included in the total head count of LDS members up to the age of 9. They are supposed to be baptized after they turn 8, but those who get to 9 without baptism are dropped from membership.