Blog: Doomsday Demographics - 2017-04-15
With the exception of a couple of old-timers, everyone in my bustling Scientology mission back in the day was in their late teens and early twenties. Now? The demographics have completely flipped. Everyone's grown old; most are in their sixty's or seventy's; a smattering of thirty-something, second-generation staff round out the ranks.
From what I can tell from all the pictures of Scientologists in magazines and promo pieces, this trend has spread worldwide. Ideal orgs have done nothing to reverse this upward demographic drift. The ones I've visited look like empty Christian Science Reading Rooms, their scant staff looking more like grandparents than Millennials.
The church has failed to attract young people. Over the last forty years the average age of its members has continued to climb. Those few remaining are ready to retire or already have. A decade from now, the majority of Scientologists will be too old to do services any more. Or will have died. Or run out of money.
There is no next generation of Scientologists.