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 New Testament but not a full Bible

GradeMeasured

Latest: 1,726 (2024)
Source: Wycliffe Global Alliance; Wycliffe UK

The Christian case

In 1,726 further languages the New Testament has been translated even though the whole Bible has not yet been, on Wycliffe UK's 2024 figures. The count rose from 1,548 in 2019 to 1,582 in 2021, 1,658 in 2023 and 1,726 in 2024. Taken together with the full Bibles, Wycliffe UK reported that "over a third of all languages now have the Bible or the New Testament". For Christians, the New Testament carries the gospel itself, so these languages already have the account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection in their own words.

What the research found

Measured: the series for 2019-2024 uses one definition and rises every year shown, by 178 languages in five years. Together with the 756 full Bibles, that makes 2,482 languages with at least a New Testament in 2024.

Explore the counterarguments

These are the agencies' own counts of their own work. A completed New Testament shows that a translation exists, not how many people use it. Nearly two-thirds of the world's languages still have neither a full Bible nor a New Testament.