Tonga is now the world capital of Mormonism with the highest number of Mormons per capita of any country, researchers said.
Its 64,000 followers make up just over 60 percent of the kingdom’s population, Radio New Zealand reported.
Samoa, American Samoa, Niue and the Cook Islands are the other top five countries for membership of the Latter-day Saints Church.
A Colorado-based researcher Matt Martinich said the church traditionally keeps members on its records, even if individuals no longer associate themselves with the church.
“Tonga church reported membership constitutes about 60% of the population, so although if you look at the number of active members, that percentage is much lower,” Mr Martinich said.
“It’s more like about 20% because about two thirds of the members of the church in Tonga don’t regularly attend church or they identify with some other religious group even though their names are still on the church records.”
It has been reported in 2014 that Mormons in Tonga have outnumbered Catholics and the number of its followers was continuing to grow.
