Scripture translation.

How many of the world's roughly 7,400 languages have the Bible, the New Testament or some Scripture, and how many still wait for translation to begin, year by year, from the agencies' own published figures.

Reach map Scripture translation Growth

Measured 3Definition changed 2Goal missed 1

Languages, by Scripture available

Some ScriptureFull BibleNew Testament (no full Bible)Waiting for work to begin

Wycliffe Global Alliance statistics (archived yearly pages, 2011-2021, and its 2025 page) and Wycliffe UK's State of the Bible (2023, 2024). Each year is the date of the data (usually 1 October of the year before publication). The waiting list changed method in 2016 and 2018 (sign languages counted from 2018). The 1999 value is the 2025 page's "more than 5,000".

3,756 (2024)

Languages with some Scripture

From about 2,700 languages in 2011 to 3,756 in 2024, now just over half the world's languages.

Measured

756 (2024)

Languages with a full Bible

From 698 languages in 2019 to 756 in 2024, used by about 6 billion people.

Measured

1,726 (2024)

Languages with a New Testament but not a full Bible

From 1,548 languages in 2019 to 1,726 in 2024.

Measured

544 (August 2025)

Languages still waiting for translation to begin

From over 5,000 in 1999 and 2,040 in 2011 to 544 in 2025, with two changes of method along the way.

Definition changed

4,457 (2025)

Languages with translation work in progress

Work under way rose from about 2,200 languages in 2013 to over 4,000, as agencies count it.

Definition changed

544 still waiting (2025)

Vision 2025: translation under way in every language that needs it

The goal adopted in 1999 was not met by 2025, though the waiting list fell by about nine-tenths.

Goal missed

← All figures

Languages with a full Bible

GradeMeasured

Latest: 756 (2024)
Source: Wycliffe Global Alliance; Wycliffe UK

The Christian case

The full Bible is now available in 756 languages, on Wycliffe UK's 2024 figures, up from 698 in 2019, 717 in 2021 and 736 in 2023. Wycliffe UK reported that "The number of people with access to the Bible in their language has broken through the 6 billion barrier", and that "Bibles and New Testaments launched at a record-breaking rate in 2024", about two a week. For Christians, a complete Bible in a people's own language is the fullest form of the reach Jesus spoke of, and the pace of new translations is still rising.

What the research found

Measured: the counts for 2019-2024 are published on a consistent definition, and they rise every year shown, by 58 languages in five years. Counts for years before 2019 appear only in the agencies' infographics and are not included here. The figure of 6 billion people is the agency's own estimate of how many people have the Bible in their language.

Explore the counterarguments

A full Bible exists in about one in ten of the world's roughly 7,400 languages; most languages with Scripture have only a New Testament or portions. The figures come from the agencies doing the work, and they count translations completed, not how widely they are read. "Access" to the Bible in one's language, as the agencies count it, is a measure of availability rather than of use.