Until All Have Heard: The Global State of Bible Translation
Total living languages worldwide: 7,397
Languages with some Scripture (full Bible, New Testament, or portions): 3,887
Languages with no Scripture yet: 3,510
| Scripture Access Level | Number of Languages | Percentage of Total Languages |
|---|---|---|
| Full Bible | 771 | ~10.4% |
| New Testament | 1,760 | ~23.8% |
| Portions of Scripture | 1,356 | ~18.3% |
| No Scripture | 3,510 | ~47.5% |
Population Impact
People with access to at least some Scripture: Approximately 97.4% of the global population
People with access to the full Bible: Approximately 80% of the global population
People without any Scripture in their language: Approximately 99.8 million individuals, representing about 1.3% of the global population
Translation Efforts
Languages with active translation projects: 4,184
New translation projects initiated: An average of one per day
Bibles and New Testaments launched: At a rate of two per wee
United Bible Societies (UBS)
UBS reports that in 2023, Bible Societies worldwide distributed 152 million copies of Scriptures, including 24.2 million full Bibles, 9.2 million New Testaments, and 118.6 million Scripture portions or selections. The top 10 languages for Bible distribution were Spanish, English, Portuguese, Mandarin, Indonesian, Telugu, French, Tamil, Swahili, and Tagalog. These together accounted for 72% of the total full Bible distribution. Reported
Wycliffe Global Alliance – Global Scripture Access Statistics
https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics
Wycliffe UK – Bible Translation Statistics (2024)
https://wycliffe.org.uk/statistics