Area (LDS Church)

Areas of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints outside US and Canada.

Areas of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in US and
Canada.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), an area is an administrative unit that typically is composed of multiple stakes and missions. These areas are the primary church administrative unit between individual stakes or missions and the church as a whole.

History

The areas as they now exist were formed in January 1984. Prior to that time, general authorities served as "area supervisors" and at times resided outside of Salt Lake City. In 1984, 13 initial areas were created; by 1992 there were 22, and by early 2007 there were 31. As of August 2025, there are 24 areas, 6 in the United States, and 18 worldwide, including the new Canada Area. In conjunction with the move to create a Canada Area, five of the other six North American areas were renamed. The former North America Central, North America Northeast, North America Southeast, North America Southwest, and North America West Areas, respectively are now known as the United States Central, United States Northeast, United States Southeast, United States Southwest, and United States West Areas, respectively.

Administration

Until 2003, each area had a president and two counselors, all of whom were typically general authorities (area seventies sometimes served as counselors). This three-man body was known as the area presidency. In that year, the church eliminated these presidencies for areas located in the United States and Canada, which were all then placed under the direct supervision of a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, thus freeing more general authorities from specific area assignments. Since these areas were previously administered by area presidencies located at church headquarters in Salt Lake City, the administrative change was not as drastic as it might seem.

In April 2018, the church announced that, effective August 1 of that year, areas in the United States and Canada would once again be supervised by a three-man presidency. This enabled the Presidency of the Seventy to more fully assist the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in their duties, and to fill other assignments as needed.

The areas outside the United States continue to be governed by area presidencies that are typically composed of general authority seventies and/or area seventies. These presidency members usually reside in a headquarters city located in the geographic boundaries of the area. Area seventies who serve in these presidencies reside in their own homes, which may or may not be in the area headquarters city.

In 2019, church leaders stated that the 10 North American areas would be merged into six (the Idaho Area merged into the North America Central Area; the North America Northwest Area merged into the North America West Area; and the Utah North, Utah Salt Lake City, and Utah South areas merged into a single Utah Area.

Also in 2019, a structural change occurred in the administration of the Middle East/Africa North Area. In prior years, two general authorities based at church headquarters were assigned oversight for the area. However, beginning in August 2019, a three-man area presidency was established to oversee the area. Two of them were general authorities at church headquarters, while the second counselor was an area seventy living in the area.

In 2019, church leaders also announced the division of the Africa Southeast Area, into the Africa Central and Africa South areas, effective August 1, 2020. Two months later, W. Christopher Waddell, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, announced in Johannesburg that the new Africa Central Area would be headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.

Then in 2022, additional structural changes affected Europe. The Europe and Europe East areas were split into 3 areas and renamed the Europe Central, Europe East, and Europe North areas. The presidency of the Europe Area became the presidency of the Europe Central Area, with the presidency of the Europe East Area becoming three area seventies. The president and first counselor in the Europe East Area were reassigned to fill the same roles in the Europe North Area, with the second counselor being an area seventy. The area seventy who had been serving as the second counselor in the Europe East Area was designated an assistant to the Europe North Area presidency, specifically overseeing Ukraine and Moldova, which will be separate from a specific area at the current time.

Then, in early December 2024, the First Presidency created a new Canada Area. Subsequently, in mid-April 2025, in conjunction with the announcement of the first Canada Area presidency, it was announced that the area headquarters would be in Calgary, Alberta, with some area functions managed in Toronto, Ontario.

As of August 2025, the church has 18 areas outside and 6 areas inside the United States, for a total of 24 areas. With the changes in the Europe Areas, the church now has five area seventies serving in area presidencies. Area assignments are generally announced sometime after April's general conference and are effective August 1.

Summary statistics

Area Members Stakes Dis­tricts Con­gre­ga­tions Missions Temples
O U A T
Africa Central 244,7145934744152237
Africa South 228,6895127585133238
Africa West 587,338163421,9092534613
Asia 184,9273323335133429
Asia North 244,6373816381126039
Brazil 1,573,360289342,00837116724
Canada 211,581563501691111
Caribbean 419,7116726618144026
Central America 861,618133241,1191983213
Eurasian 22,628256640011
Europe Central 239,9516696972071513
Europe North 301,9246795901681413
Middle East/ Africa North 3,424232200011
Mexico 1,572,287231421,875341431027
Pacific 619,178144221,27816116522
Philippines 905,082141491,3702644614
South America Northwest 1,405,745227391,6973392819
South America South 1,348,816190451,58729101415
United States Central 1,076,54929002,65818205833
United States Northeast 592,60913321,14217113620
United States Southeast 649,25613201,17016123318
United States Southwest 1,142,48927342,22225173727
United States West 1,261,68726702,06429176629
Utah 2,206,37064775,36513244432

Temples
O=Operating Temples (includes temporary closures)
U=Temples Under Construction
A=Temples publicly announced to be constructed
T=Total Temples (announced and under construction)

  1. 1 2 Estimates or latest available data were used for countries without released membership and congregational statistics. A significant number of countries in the Middle East/North Africa and Asia Areas don't have any official church membership and congregational data and therefore are more reliant on these estimates.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Boundaries for areas follow mission boundaries and not necessarily state boundaries. Calculations were done according to state boundaries. When a state/province is split between more than one area, the area with the most predominance in the respective state/province received that state's membership and congregational statistics for calculation.
    For example, the Utah Area uses membership statistics for the state of Utah, even though parts of the state are outside of the Utah Area, and that area includes portions of other US states.

Area details

The following details are current as of August 1, 2025, and are primarily taken from the Facts and Statistics page of the church's official website (www.churchofjesuschrist.org). Ward and branch totals and membership numbers were last updated (with some approximations as noted in the previous section) in 2025.

Africa Central

Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya

Official Website

244,714 Members, 59 Stakes, 34 Districts, 744 Congregations, 15 Missions, 7 Temples

Area President: Paul B. Pieper

Counselors: Alfred Kyungu & Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier

Missions:

  • Cameroon Yaounde Mission
  • DRC Kananga Mission
  • DRC Kinshasa East Mission
  • DRC Kinshasa North Mission
  • DRC Kinshasa South Mission
  • DRC Kinshasa West Mission
  • DRC Kolwezi Mission
  • DRC Lubumbashi Mission
  • DRC Mbuji-Mayi Mission
  • DRC Mwene-Ditu Mission
  • Ethiopia Addis Ababa Mission
  • Kenya Kisumu Mission
  • Kenya Nairobi East Mission

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Africa South

Headquarters: Johannesburg, South Africa

Official Website

228,689 Members, 51 Stakes, 27 Districts, 585 Congregations, 13 Missions, 8 Temples

Area President: Carlos A. Godoy

Counselors: Vaiangina Sikahema & Ozani Farias

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Africa West

Headquarters: Accra, Ghana

Official Website

587,338 Members, 163 Stakes, 42 Districts, 1,171 wards, 738 branches, 32 missions, 13 temples

Area president: Adeyinka A. Ojediran

Counselors: Isaac K. Morrison, D. Martin Goury, & Christian C. Chigbundu

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Asia

Headquarters: Hong Kong, China

Official Website

184,927 Members, 33 Stakes, 23 Districts, 335 Congregations, 13 Missions, 9 Temples

Area President: Kelly R. Johnson

Counselors: David L. Buckner & Wan-Liang Wu

Missions:

  • Cambodia Phnom Penh East Mission
  • Cambodia Phnom Pehn West Mission
  • China Hong Kong Mission
  • India Bengaluru Mission
  • India New Delhi Mission
  • Taiwan Taipei Mission
  • Thailand Bangkok East Mission
  • Thailand Bangkok West Mission
  • Vietnam Hanoi Mission

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Asia North

Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan

Official Website

244,637 Members, 38 Stakes, 16 Districts, 381 Congregations, 12 Missions, 9 Temples

Area President: J. Kimo Esplin

Counselors: Christopher H. Kim & Michael John U. Teh

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Brazil

Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil

Official Website

1,573,360 Members, 289 Stakes, 34 Districts, 2,008 Congregations, 37 Missions, 24 Temples

Area President: Ciro Schmeil

Counselors: Denelson Silva, Ronald M. Barcellos, & B. Corey Cuvelier

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

Brazil

Canada

Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta & Toronto, Ontario

Official website

211,581 Members, 56 Stakes, 3 Districts, 501 Congregations, 6 Missions, 11 Temples

Area President: Vern P. Stanfill

Counselors: Matthew L. Carpenter & James E. Evanson

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

  • Canada with exception of Yukon Territory
  • Saint Pierre and Miquelon

Caribbean

Headquarters: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Official Website

419,711 Members, 67 Stakes, 26 Districts, 618 Congregations, 14 Missions, 6 Temples

Area President: Valeri V. Cordon

Counselors: Hugo Montoya & Ahmad S. Corbitt

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Central America

Headquarters: Guatemala City, Guatemala

861,618 Members, 133 Stakes, 24 Districts, 1,119 Congregations, 19 Missions, 13 Temples

Area President: Patricio M. Giuffra

Counselors: Ryan K. Olsen & Gregorio E. Casillas

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

Eurasian

Headquarters: Moscow, Russia

22,628 Members, 2 Stakes, 5 Districts, 66 Congregations, 4 Missions, 1 Temple

Area President: Aleksandr A. Drachyov (Area Seventy)

Counselors: Nikolai Ustyuzhaninov (Area Seventy) & Vladimir N. Astashov (Area Seventy)

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Europe Central

Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany

239,951 Members, 66 Stakes, 9 Districts, 697 Congregations, 20 Missions, 13 Temples

Area President: Jack N. Gerard

Counselors: James W. McConkie III & Michael Cziesla

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Europe North

Headquarters: High Wycombe, England

Official Website

301,924 Members, 67 Stakes, 9 Districts, 590 Congregations, 16 Missions, 13 Temples

Area President: Kevin W. Pearson

Counselors: Marcos A. Aidukaitis & Paul H. Sinclair

Missions:

  • England Leeds Mission
  • England London Mission
  • England Manchester Mission
  • Finland Helsinki Mission
  • Norway Oslo Mission
  • Portugal Lisbon Mission

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Mexico

Headquarters: Mexico City, Mexico

Official Website (Español)

1,572,287 Members, 231 Stakes, 42 Districts, 1,875 Congregations, 34 Missions, 27 Temples

Area President: Moises Villanueva

Counselors: Jose L. Alonso, Brik V. Eyre, & Jorge M. Alvarado

Missions:

  • Mexico Mexico City East Mission
  • Mexico Mexico City North Mission
  • Mexico Mexico City Northwest Mission
  • Mexico Mexico City South Mission
  • Mexico Mexico City Southeast Mission
  • Mexico Mexico City West Mission
  • Mexico Monterrey East Mission
  • Mexico Monterrey West Mission
  • Mexico Oaxaca Mission
  • Mexico Pachuca Mission
  • Mexico Puebla East Mission
  • Mexico Puebla North Mission

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

Middle East/ Africa North

Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah

3,424 Members, 2 Stakes, 3 Districts, 22 Congregations, 0 Missions, 1 Temple

Area President: Anthony D. Perkins

Counselors: Adilson de Paula Parrella & Edward B. Rowe<

Missions:

No Missions

Temples:

Geographic coverage:
(Areas where the LDS Church has no official presence in italics)

Pacific

Headquarters: Auckland, New Zealand

Official website

619,178 Members, 144 Stakes, 22 Districts, 1,278 Congregations, 16 Missions, 22 Temples

Area President: Taniela B. Wakolo

Counselors: Jeremy R. Jaggi, Hans T. Boom, & Matthew J. Eyring

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

Philippines

Headquarters: Quezon City, Philippines

Official Website

905,082 Members, 141 Stakes, 49 Districts, 1,370 Congregations, 26 Missions, 14 Temples

Area President: Carlos G. Revillo Jr.

Counselors: Chi Hong (Sam) Wong & Steven D. Shumway

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

South America Northwest

Headquarters: Lima, Peru

Official Website (Spanish)

1,405,745 Members, 227 Stakes, 39 Districts, 1,697 Congregations, 33 Missions, 19 Temples

Area President: Juan Pablo Villar

Counselors: Sandino Roman & Steven C. Barlow

Missions:

  • Perú Lima East Mission
  • Perú Lima Limatambo Mission
  • Perú Lima North Mission
  • Peru Lima Northeast Mission
  • Peru Lima Northwest Mission
  • Perú Lima South Mission
  • Perú Lima West Mission
  • Perú Piura Mission
  • Perú Tacna Mission
  • Perú Trujillo North Mission
  • Perú Trujillo South Mission

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

South America South

Headquarters: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Official Website (Spanish)

1,348,816 Members, 190 Stakes, 45 Districts, 1,587 Congregations, 29 Missions, 15 Temples

Area President: Alan R. Walker

Counselors: Mathias Held & Sergio R. Vargas

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

United States Central

Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah

1,076,549 Members, 290 Stakes, 2,658 Congregations, 18 Missions, 33 Temples

Area President: Jose A. Teixeira

Counselors: Ricardo P. Gimenez, Karl D. Hirst, & James O. Fantone

Missions:

Temples:

  • Bismarck North Dakota Temple Need display_name (temporarily closed)

Geographic coverage:

United States Northeast

Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah

Official Website

592,609 Members, 133 Stakes, 2 Districts, 1,142 Congregations, 17 Missions, 20 Temples

Area President: Robert M. Daines

Counselors: Joni L. Koch, Alan T. Phillips, & Kevin J. Hathaway

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

United States Southeast

Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah 649,256 Members, 132 Stakes, 1,170 Congregations, 16 Missions, 18 Temples

President: Massimo De Feo

Counselors: Aroldo B. Cavalcante & John D. Amos

Missions:

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

United States Southwest

Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah

1,142,489 Members, 273 Stakes, 4 Districts, 2,222 Congregations, 25 Missions, 27 Temples

Area president: Michael A. Dunn

Counselors: Joaquin E. Costa & Pedro X. Larreal

Missions:

  • Texas El Paso Mission
  • Texas Fort Worth Mission
  • Texas Houston East Mission
  • Texas Houston North Mission
  • Texas Houston South Mission
  • Texas Houston West Mission
  • Texas Lubbock Mission
  • Texas McAllen Mission
  • Texas San Antonio North Mission
  • Texas San Antonio South Mission

Temples:

Geographic coverage:

United States West

Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah

1,261,687 Members, 267 Stakes, 2,064 Congregations, 29 Missions, 29 Temples

Area President: Takashi Wada

Counselors: Peter M. Johnson, Hugo E. Martinez, & Hutch U. Fale

Missions:

Temples:
  • Kona Hawaii Temple Need display_name (closed for renovation)

Geographic coverage:

Utah

Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah

Official Website

2,206,370 Members, 647 Stakes, 7 Districts, 5,365 Congregations, 13 Missions, 32 Temples

Area President: Brian K. Taylor

Counselors: John A. McCune, Jorge T. Becerra, Thabo Lebothoa

Missions:

  • Utah Salt Lake City Mission
  • Utah Salt Lake City East Mission
  • Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission
  • Utah Salt Lake City South Mission
  • Utah Salt Lake City West Mission
  • Utah Saratoga Springs Mission
  • Utah Spanish Fork Mission
  • Utah St. George Mission

Temples:

  • Provo Utah Temple Need display_name (closed for renovation)

Geographic coverage:

Utah; Arizona (small portion); Idaho (small portion); Nevada (small portion)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Allen, James B. and Glen M. Leonard. The Story of the Latter-day Saints 2nd Edition, p. 654.
  2. ↑ Mehr, Kahlile (Spring 2001). "Area Supervision: Administration of the Worldwide Church, 1960-2002". Journal of Mormon History. 27 (1): 192–214.
  3. 1 2 Africa Southeast Area to be Divided into Two Areas, South African Newsroom, 28 June 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  4. ↑ Africa Central Area Office to be in Nairobi Kenya, South African Newsroom, 19 August 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  5. ↑ First Presidency Announces 2022 Area Leadership Assignments, Newsroom, churchofjesuschrist.org. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  6. 1 2 "The First Presidency Creates the Canada Area of the Church". newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. 2024-12-06. Retrieved 2025-09-14.
  7. ↑ First Presidency Announces 2025-2026 Area Leadership Assignments, Church News, 14 April 2025. Retrieved 14 April 2025
  8. ↑ " Area presidency assignments for 2025-26 announced, Church News, 14 April 2025. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  9. ↑ First Presidency Announces 2018 Area Leadership Assignments, Mormon Newsroom, 5 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  10. ↑ First Presidency Announces 2019 Area Leadership Assignments, churchofjesuschrist.org, 26 April 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  11. ↑ Nairobi, Kenya, to be Church Africa Central Area Office, Newsroom, churchofjesuschrist.org, 20 August 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  12. ↑ First Presidency announces 2022-2023 area leadership assignments, Church News, 7 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  13. ↑ New Canada Area Presidency Announced, Canada Newsroom, churchofjesuschrist.org. 17 April 2025. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  14. ↑ While two of the area presidency members will administer the area from the main headquarters in Calgary, one presidency member will administer the area from Toronto[citation needed]
  15. ↑ Historically, the assignments were effective on August 15, but August 1 has been the effective date since 2007[citation needed].
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Based on official and unofficial membership and congregational found on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics data is 2025 or latest available. This is combined numbers for all countries within area. Temple count includes temples that are announced or under construction
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Area presidency assignments for 2026-2027 include 'adaptations', Deseret News, 15 April 2026. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 What the First Presidency’s changes to area presidencies tell us about how the church operates, Deseret News, 17 April 20226. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Swenson, Madison (Nov 23, 2022), "Church Opening Six New Missions in 2023", KSL TV 5, retrieved January 13, 2023
  20. ↑ As noted here, current as of March 21, 2023. Temple count includes those announced or under construction.
  21. ↑ The developing Church in Mongolia now belongs to the North Asia region, Newsroom: Mongolia, 24 July 2019, retrieved 22 March 2022.
  22. ↑ While the functional headquarters of this area is Calgary, one member of the area presidency will administer the area from Toronto, as verified here.
  23. ↑ As verified here.
  24. ↑ The name for this area was changed in late 2023, as verified here.
  25. ↑ Headquartered in Zagreb Croatia.
  26. ↑ Headquartered in Munich Germany.
  27. ↑ Headquartered in Leiden The Netherlands.
  28. ↑ Headquartered in Prague Czech Republic.
  29. ↑ Headquartered in Frankfurt Germany. The mission has jurisdiction over Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.
  30. ↑ Headquartered in Riga Latvia.
  31. ↑ Headquartered in Edinburgh Scotland.
  32. ↑ "Facts and Statistics: Statistics by Country: Mexico", Newsroom, LDS Church, retrieved 29 May 2023
  33. ↑ Because much of the Middle East/Africa North Area covers countries that doesn't recognize the church, third party estimates are used for a significant portion of this count.
  34. ↑ As verified here.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Area boundaries many times deviate from U.S. state boundaries. Used statistics for states where this area is most predominant.
  36. 1 2 3 4
  37. 1 2 3 4
  38. ↑ Stack, Peggy Fletcher. "Mormon missionaries find work, meaning in community service", The Washington Post, 4 February 2014. Retrieved on 7 March 2020.