The 200 Million Figure

During the late 1990s, Mirza Tahir Ahmad embarked on a program to increase the number of Ahmadis exponentially (double the year before), starting with 200,000 in 1993. Intriguingly, we had the following numbers reported:

• 1993 - 204,308
• 1994 - 421,753
• 1995 - 847,725
• 1996 - 1,602,721
• 1997 - 3,004,575
• 1998 - 5,004,591
• 1999 - 10,820,226
• 2000 - 41,308,376
• 2001 - 81,007,631
• 2002 - 20,654,000
• 2003 onwards - insignificant, as Mirza Tahir Ahmad died in 2003

These figures are copied from this piechart:

That was on the Qadiani Ahmadiyya website until June 3, 2006. It was removed on, or immediately before that date.

These are the numbers of NEW conversions only, and no country-wide data was provided, despite great demand for such data. The number '200 million' was used in all press releases and Ahmadiyya publications and web sites.

There was widespread discomfort with these numbers, and few Ahmadis believed them and the leadership did not respond to requests for information. For many Ahmadis, this could not be explained and they left, openly and covertly.

On August 16, 2006, the 200 million figure was also removed from the Qadiani Ahmadiyya website.