Salt Lake Paper Obtains Records Showing a Mormon Decline in Utah

By: E&P Staff It seemed to the Salt Lake Tribune that the percentage of Mormons in Utah was on the decline, but there was no way to know for sure. So the paper filed a public records request and found that within three years, the state population will have its lowest share of Mormons since the church started keeping track of such figures.

By 2030, if the trend persists, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will no longer be a Utah majority, the newspaper reported on Sunday, based on the secret numbers from the Utah Office of Planning and Budget.

"Utah is essentially becoming more like the nation," said Robert Spendlove, the planning office's lead demographer.

Data from 2004 shows that Mormons make up 62% of the state's populace, but each of the state's 29 counties showed a decrease in its Mormon population.

This is a result of changes in the state's economy, Pam Perlich of the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research told the paper. "When economic growth goes up, minority population goes up, and this is kind of a code word for non-Mormons," she said.