Monson became the 16th president of the LDS Church on February 3, 2008, succeeding Hinckley, who had died seven days earlier. Monson selected Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf as his first and second counselors, respectively. When Monson was born, there were fewer than 650,000 church members in the world, most of them living in the western United States. At the time he became the church's president, there were over 13 million members worldwide, with the majority living outside the United States and Canada. As of October 2012, 31 temples announced by Monson were either under construction or in planning.