Boy Scout Membership

Those of you who know me will probably know I believe the decision to allow women to serve as Boy Scout Leaders was the beginning of the downward trend in membership for the Boy Scouts of America. Since that decision was made, there have been other policy decisions that , I believe, have weakened the organization even further.

With the internet providing access to the Annual Reports for the National Organization, you can, with some digging, find the numbers. You have to look carefully. Other than 1999, the numbers are buried inside lots of text. Sometimes the numbers are 'more than' type numbers (ie. more than one million). There are discrepancies within reports. The 2005 report states early on that there were in excess of 5 million youth involved in the program. When you add up the numbers given later, even with rounding estimates up, the 5 million is at least half a million to high.

I couldn't find annual reports earlier than 1998 on the boy Scouts site. I did find some citations in other areas. President Richard Nixon accepted a report in 1973 that said there were 6 million Boy Scouts.

From the annual reports, you can see the decline in numbers. In 1998 (using the 1999 annual report) there were 3,383,439 youth involved in scouting. In 2005 it was reported that there were only 2,938,698. That is a drop of 444,741 youth members or a loss of 13 percent.

Specifically, Cub Scouts went from 2,171,987 to 1,745324 in the same period. This is a drop of 426,663 Cubs; a 20 percent drop. Boy Scouts went from 1,023,442 to 943,426; a loss of 80,016 or 8 percent.

People will argue that the total available youth have dropped as well. I will look for specific data, but I doubt that the population of youth in America has dropped as quickly as the number involved in the Boy Scouts.

Demographically, the National Office reports that the program is holding on to Scouts longer than before. This would actually inflate the numbers of Boy Scouts. That is, it means fewer new Boy Scouts are registering than indicated by the 8 percent decrease.

The area of largest growth is in Adult membership. Why? I have a theory, but will save it for later.

I am sure there are many reasons for the decrease in membership. It does not have to do with any one factor. The positive side, there will be room for growth in the future.

Resources --

1998 - Cub Scouts = 2.17 million+; Boy Scouting = more than one million; venturing = 188075; Total = 4757184; from 1998 Annual Report.

1998 - Cub Scouts = 2171987; Boy Scouts = 1023442; Venture = 188010; Total = 3383439; from 1999 Annual Report.

1999 - Cub Scouts = 2181013; Boy Scouts = 1028353; Venture = 202486; Total = 3411853; from 1999 Annual Report.

2001 - Cub Scouts = 2043478; Boy Scouts = 1005592; Venture = 276434; Total (calculated from prior numbers) = 3325504; from 2001 Annual Report.

2002 - Cub Scouts = more than two million; Boy Scouts = more than one million; Venture = 315296; Therefore, total should be more than 3315296 but less than 43315296 (from Membership section of 2002 Annual Report); which does not jive with the "excess of 5 million youth" reported in the opening paragraph of the Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives from the same report.

2005 - Cub Scouts = 1745324; Boy Scouts = 943426; Venture = 249948; Total (calculated from prior numbers) = 2938698; from 2005 Annual Report.