Our International Movement
As an international movement organised around Christian principles, The Salvation Army is a mobilised force fighting injustice and inequality around the world without discrimination.
Today, The Salvation Army ministers in 128 countries around the world through a wide variety of spiritual and humanitarian programs ranging from day-care centres for children to nursing homes for the aged; programs to assist those with dependency issues, the homeless, and those without advocacy. More than 14 million people around the world are helped every year by The Salvation Army.
From country to country, The Salvation Army is primarily driven by local people working passionately to make a difference. This means The Salvation Army in Australia is distinctly Australian, The Salvation Army in Africa is distinctly African, and The Salvation Army in Asia is distinctly Asian.
Empowering and equipping local people to impact their own community has always been a key focus of The Salvation Army, allowing the richness of true international partnership and collaboration while holding tightly to the importance of local community impact.
International Disaster Response
As an international organisation at work in 128 countries, when disaster strikes The Salvation Army is often positioned to respond quickly and effectively to assist local communities.
This map is provided by our International Headquarters and shows some of our emergency responses around the world, the most recent marked in yellow.
International statistics
The statistics below provide an indication of the scope of The Salvation Army's international work.
The Salvation Army's work in various countries is tailored to the social and economic needs of local communities. This means the activities of The Salvation Army can be vastly different from country to country. For example, The Salvation Army runs 52 hospitals internationally, but does not administer any in Australia.
| Number of corps (churches) | 14,527 |
| Number of officers | 28,053 |
| Number of employees | 111,859 |
| Soldiers | 1,182,100 |
| Adherent members | 175,811 |
| Junior soldiers | 411,327 |
| Community development programmes | 1,626 (beneficiaries: 634,053) |
| Homeless hostels | 461 (capacity: 28,780) |
| Residential addiction dependency programmes | 216 (capacity: 16,299) |
| Homes for elderly persons | 180 (capacity: 12,857) |
| Mother and baby homes | 36 (capacity: 908) |
| Refuges | 96 (capacity: 2,210) |
| Community day care centres | 937 |
| Non-residential addiction rehabilitation centres | 124 |
| Services to the armed forces | 27 chaplains, 11 mobile units |
| Disaster rehabilitation schemes | 43 |
| Prisoners visited | 247,794 |
| General hospitals | 29 |
| Maternity hospitals | 32 |
| Specialist hospitals | 62 |
Source: The Salvation Army International 2018 Year Book, as at 1 January 2017