The 2012 Yearbook (PDF edition) is now available at the jw.org webpage. 236 lands are included in the 2011 Service Year Report (like last year, with 206 named and “30 Other Lands”), but they include two important changes apparently not explained in the Yearbook.

(1) Hawaii does not appear in the Report, thus reducing the number of lands in Oceania from 30 to 29 (along with corresponding decreases in Oceania’s population, publishers and studies from last year, as noted on page 83). The conclusion I draw is that Hawaii now reports with the United States as part of the Americas, just as Alaska has been so reporting for the past several years. However, the 2010 Average Publishers report for the United States has NOT been adjusted to account for Hawaii’s addition, so that column will not add up correctly until Hawaii’s then 8,531 publishers are listed separately.

(2) The Palestinian Territory (aka “PT”) is reporting for the first time, with a Population of 4,144,000. This has resulted in a reduction in Israel’s Population from 11,525,130 (8,506 people per publisher) in 2010 to 7,590,000 (5,656 people per publisher) in 2011. This should have increased the number of lands in Asia and the Middle East from 47 to 48; however, the section beginning on page 68 does NOT include PT in its statistics, or even in the statistics of any of the other four regions. Adding the number of Lands, (Average) Publishers and Bible Studies for all five regions does not sum to the Grand Total at the bottom of pages 50-51 until PT’s figures are added separately. The spreadsheet I am putting together at home will probably include PT with Asia and the Middle East for clarity.