The Bahai authorities are known for quoting ridiculously high figures to show the faith is being followed by a large number of people and conversions are happening in thousands. Many countries have the column of religion in their census forms where respondents can voluntarily declare which religion they follow. Has anyone compared the official census figures with the numbers given by Bahai authorities, and by doing this can we know the 'true' population of Bahais in the World?

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[–]PocketBearMonkey 7 points  
I was once invited to a bahai event where 80 people were invited. 4 showed up. The 4 sat around and discussed how fast the faith was growing. No joke. I asked baha'is around the country, where is this growth taking place. The answer was always: not here but it is growing other places.
[–]MirzaJan 5 points  
LOL.
I get real figures after declaration of the results of 'Delegate Elections'. I am monitoring from past 5 years the number of voters have decreased. Only 10-15% Baha'is (in my area) vote after so much follow-up and reminders. This year they are accepting the votes via SMS and Whatsapp also!!
[–]PocketBearMonkey 2 points  
I think baha'i numbers exaggerated by 85-90%
[–]MirzaJan 1 point  
Yea. They are exaggerated that is true, by what percentage we may not know exactly. But Baha'is are dishonest in their 2.2 million figure that is 100% sure.
[–]gaudreauslashed 4 points  
Excellent question! I'd like to know this myself. I remember reading a story about an exbahai who was a regional authority, forget what his title was, and his job was to travel around and like visit LSA's and stuff. He remarked how disconcerting it was to find out how many former bahai's were inactive and didn't consider themselves bahai anymore or religious at all, but were still listed as active. Because it takes more effort to cancel than to sign up. YOu have to like write a letter to your NSA and formally resign your membership, and many don't bother.
[–]A35821361 4 points  
When compiling census data, some nations ask respondents their religious affiliation. Below is a table with national census data compared to Bahá'í-cited sources of membership numbers for some of those nations.
Nation Census data Bahá'í-cited data
Barbados 178[1] 3,138[2]
Belize 202[3][4] 7,776[2]
Canada 18,945[5] 30,000[6]; 46,587[2]
Guyana 500[7] 13,045[2]
India 4,572[8][9] 1,880,000[2]; over 2,000,000[11]
Mauritius 639[10] 23,703[2]
Norway 1,015[12] 2,722[2]
Sources:
  1. "Redatam". Census. Barbados Statistical Service. 2010. Archived from the original on 4 October 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  2. "Most Baha'i Nations (2005)". QuickLists > Compare Nations > Religions >. The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2005. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  3. "2010 Census of Belize Overview". 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  4. "2010 Census of Belize Detailed Demographics of 2000 and 2010". 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  5. "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables". Statistics Canada. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  6. "The Bahá'í Community Canada, Facts and Figures". The Bahá’í Community Canada. Bahá’í Community Canada. 2014. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  7. "Chapter II, Population Composition, 2002 Census" (PDF). Statistics Bureau. 2002. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  8. "C-01 Appendix : Details of Religious Community Shown Under 'Other Religions And Persuasions' In Main Table C-1- 2011 (India & States/UTs)". Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  9. "Population Enumeration Data (Final Population)". Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  10. "Resident population by religion and sex" (PDF). Statistics Mauritius. pp. 68,71. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 16, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  11. "Baha'i Faith in India". Official Website of the Bahá'ís of India. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of India. 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  12. Statistics Norway (2008). "Members of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway, by religion/life stance". Church of Norway and other religious and life stance communities. Statistics Norway. Archived from the original on 2011-11-15. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
[–]A35821361 3 points  
I have communicated with both ARDA (the Association of Religion Data Archives) and the WCE (World Christian Encyclopedia). They use self-reported data, meaning their numbers come from the Administrative Order.
[–]lucifer7865[S] 3 points  
The census numbers are eye opener. Take India for example where the census figure is 4,572 and the claimed number is 1.8-2 million! This is equivalent to fraud with those the Bahai authorities wish to sway with these figures... One more thing to be noted, the number of self-declared Bahais in India according to the census dropped to 4,572 (in 2011) from 11,324 (in 2001), this is the lowest number in two decades. What happened that the Bahai population dropped so drastically in just a decade?
[–]A35821361 2 points  
At least one Baha'i blogger has argued that the Indian census undercounts minority faiths.
Looking at the numbers cited, the discrepancy in the population of Christians in India is 57,550,490 (ARDA) versus 27,819,588 (2011 National Census of India).
The difference in Baha'is for those two data sets is 1,880,000 (ARDA) versus 4,572 (2011 National Census of India).
So, according to ARDA, in India there is one Bahai for every 30 Christians. According to the 2011 National Census of India, there is one Bahai for every 6,000 Christians.
If the census does underestimate religious minorities, it does so disproportionately.
[–]Vignaraja 1 point  
I was told by a Baha'i' that the Bahai of India are scared to say their true religion for fear of persecution by Hindus. I tried to argue that Hinduism has been extremely tolerant of all faiths including Christianity and Buddhism and has provided safe have n over the centuries. Of course my arguments fell on deaf ears.
[–]A35821361 2 points  
The topic of taqiyya (dissimulation) among Baha'is is a complex one. Historically it has been alternatively practiced under the name of hikma (wisdom) and condemned. Until the British occupation of Palestine in World War I, Abdu'l-Baha outwardly lived as a Muslim, attending Friday prayers and even writing the Sultan a letter claiming that his tariqa had led many Americans to Islam. Shoghi Effendi, however, denied the voting rights of any Baha'i who denied his religion. Further, after the revolution in Iran, for a period of time any Iranian Baha'i who left Iran via Tehran's airport were denied administrative rights by the Universal House of Justice due to the reason that to able to leave Iran via that route they would have had to deny their affiliation to the Baha'i Faith.
[–]MirzaJan 1 point  
Further, after the revolution in Iran, for a period of time any Iranian Baha'i who left Iran via Tehran's airport were denied administrative rights by the Universal House of Justice due to the reason that to able to leave Iran via that route they would have had to deny their affiliation to the Baha'i Faith.
Yea. That is so unfortunate. I know one family who escaped through Pakistan, illegally entering the country and finally settling in the US with the help of UN agency. This was too harsh for them. I will consider UHJ responsible for all this sufferings.

[–]Dale_Husband_HS 3 points  
When I was a Baha'i living in Haltom City, Texas (early 2000s), I was sent by the NSA of the USA a list of registered Baha'is that were supposed to be there. Including myself, there were eleven or twelve listed and I noticed that most of them had declared their faith back in the 1970s. I made an attempt to contact these other Baha'is by writing to the addresses I was given, only to have all those letters returned to me by the postal service since the people I was writing to no longer lived at those places and could not be traced. I eventually concluded that most of those names and addresses were fake. That started my doubts about the Faith itself that grew over time until I finally left it completely.
[–]lucifer7865[S] 1 point  
I had a Delhi-based Baha'i contact who related that he was working in a Baha'i 'committee' and was responsible for ministering to a rural community, and also used to teach the poor children there for free. Despite trying hard he couldn't win any converts, and due to pressure from his 'higher ups' to deliver he just got some gullible village folks to sign the declaration forms without them even knowing what they were and also made some other names up. Don't know how accurate his story was, but if that happens a lot it explains why the official census figures and those given by Baha'i authorities don't match, atleast counting the number of adherents by the number of declaration forms will be misleading.

[–]MirzaJan 2 points  
Here is a picture from India. Poor villagers are made to sign 'Declaration Cards'!
[–]AllpathsROK 3 points  
I have lived in the same community for 30 years. The Baha’i numbers have stayed fairly consistently between 80 and 95. People moving in, moving out, deaths, births, occasional declaration and a couple of withdrawals. What I found disconcerting was that a number of young people who never declared at 15 and who did not consider themselves Baha’is, were still included on the electoral membership list. I took my concerns over my own daughter being on this list to NSA. Who categorically told me she had to resign from the faith to have her name removed. These young people were children of Bahais who had been registered at Birth. Some of them unaware that they were still registered as Bahá’ís. The UHJ withdrew the requirement for youth to declare at 15 some years ago and started including all adults registered as Baha’i children in the statistics (or so I was told).