Updated: 2 November 2023

1 in 5 people are still waiting for the Bible in their language

7,395 languages in the world

3,729 languages have no Scripture – yet

But huge progress is being made:

An average of one new translation (a full Bible or New Testament) is being completed every week

An average of one new language project is beginning every day

See the most recent State of the Bible report here.

Completed translation (November 2023)

741 Bibles (up 2 from last month)

1,674 New Testaments (up 9 from last month)

1,255 Portions of Scripture 

Each language only included in one category

Translation in progress (November 2023)

3,530 languages where work is currently in progress

Funding and people from the UK and Ireland plays a very significant role in the worldwide Bible translation movement. 

In summary:

Over 350 people from the UK and Ireland are serving over 580 million people speaking over 320 languages in over 60 countries.

The detailed numbers are:

352 people from the UK and Ireland (287 mission partners serving with Wycliffe, 45 employed staff, and 20 full or part-time volunteers – note: the number of volunteers does not include occasional volunteers like volunteer speakers)

Serving 583,482,090 million people 

Who speak 323 languages 

In 62 countries around the world

Some of the funding and the work of people serving from the UK and Ireland is not directly related to an individual language, but plays a vital role in enabling the wider Bible translation movement around the world to function well.

All this work is only possible because of the financial support and prayers of Christians and churches around the UK and Ireland – so thank you so much for your partnership in the vital ministry of Bible translation.



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