Convert baptisms consist of all individuals baptized into the Church over age nine. Eight-year-olds who join the Church that previously were not listed on church records as children of record are also counted as convert baptisms whereas eight-year-olds who are baptized and were previously listed as a child of record are not counted as convert baptisms. Children on church records who do not get baptized at age eight but are baptized at age nine or older are counted as a convert baptism.

The Church has not published the number of converts baptized a year prior to 1973. In 1976, the Church baptized more than 100,000 converts in a single year for the first time. The number of annual convert baptisms surpassed 150,000 in 1977, 200,000 in 1980, 250,000 in 1988, and 300,000 in 1989. Since 1990 the annual number of convert baptisms has ranged from a high of 330,877 in 1990 to a low of 241,239 in 2004 and has averaged approximately 286,000.