As of August 2015, Jehovah's Witnesses report an average of 8.2 million publishers—the term they use for members actively involved in preaching—in 118,016 congregations. In 2015, these reports indicated over 1.93 billion hours spent in preaching and "Bible study" activity. Since the mid-1990s, the number of peak publishers has increased from 4.5 million to 8.2 million. In the same year, they conducted "Bible studies" with over 9.7 million individuals, including those conducted by Witness parents with their children. Jehovah's Witnesses estimate their current worldwide growth rate to be 1.5% per year.