The status of the organization varies from country to country: they are considered the same as the “big” religions in Austria and Germany, which has around 175,000 members of this denomination, including 3,800 in Hamburg, according to the Cookies website. Worldwide, according to the same source, the movement has 8.7 million followers across 239 countries.
In France, many of their local branches have the status of “cult association”, and this rigorous movement is regularly accused of sectarian aberrations. So, according to Le Figaro, the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Abuses (Miviludes) indicated in 2021 that it had been the subject of 99 referrals concerning Jehovah’s Witnesses. The public body considered in particular that the movement had taken advantage of the health crisis to “to proselytize abusively” to the public by letters and e-mails.
Its members are also known for their missionary zeal and their door-to-door activity, provided with their Bible in a translation of their own, to announce the imminent establishment of the thousand-year-old kingdom of God, of paradise on Earth.