Putting jamboree attendance numbers in historical perspective

As any sports fan will tell you, numbers don’t always tell the whole story.

Earlier this month, I shared the final attendance figures from the 2013 National Scout Jamboree.

The count was 30,037 youth and adult participants, a number that doesn’t include staff or visitors.

But what I didn’t know at the time was this: The 2013 jamboree had the third-largest attendance as a percent of Boy Scout membership in our history. Only 2005 and 2010’s events had a higher number.

Roughly 4.42 percent of registered Scouts and Scouters attended the 2013 jamboree. For comparison, the first jamboree, held in 1937, was attended by about 3.49 percent of registered members.

Here are the year-by-year numbers, in case you’re interested: 

1937: attended by 3.485 percent of Boy Scout membership

1950: attended by 4.205 percent of Boy Scout membership

1953: attended by 3.612 percent of Boy Scout membership

1957: attended by 3.686 percent of Boy Scout membership

1960: attended by 3.422 percent of Boy Scout membership

1964: attended by 2.795 percent of Boy Scout membership

1969: attended by 1.794 percent of Boy Scout membership

1973: attended by 3.854 percent of Boy Scout membership (at two sites combined)

1977: attended by 2.335 percent of Boy Scout membership

1981: attended by 2.704 percent of Boy Scout membership

1985: attended by 3.069 percent of Boy Scout membership

1989: attended by 3.252 percent of Boy Scout membership

1993: attended by 3.518 percent of Boy Scout membership

1997: attended by 3.543 percent of Boy Scout membership

2001: attended by 4.177 percent of Boy Scout membership

2005: attended by 4.590 percent of Boy Scout membership

2010: attended by 4.833 percent of Boy Scout membership

2013: attended by 4.419 percent of Boy Scout membership