• ~717Languages with a complete Bible
  • ~1,582Languages with a complete New Testament
  • ~1,196Languages with Scripture portions
  • ~1,892Languages still needing a translator

Figures are approximate and shift as research is updated. See live data at peoplegroups.org →

Numbers can be messy because of differing values definitions, shifting demographics, varying ideology, doctrines, politics and objectives. However, numbers can help us see where our efforts are needed most.  

Wycliffe Bible Translators report regularly on Bible translation statistics. 

Of the roughly 7,378 known languages in the world, only about 717 have a complete Bible.

The rest of the picture

Another 1,582 languages have a complete New Testament, and 1,196 more have at least some Scripture portions translated. Some of these language groups have partial access to Scripture through a second or trade language they understand — but for millions of people, there is still no Bible in the language they know best. On the other hand, some languages may have three distinct dialects that are different enough to require a separate Bible translate. (The objective being maturing, thriving, reproducing Christ-followers with God’s written word in their hands in all of those places.) 

Roughly 1,892 languages still need a missionary Bible translator simply to begin the work.

Why translation takes so long

Translating the Bible into a previously unwritten language means first learning that language well enough to speak it, then developing an alphabet, teaching literacy, and only then beginning the translation itself — a process that has historically taken twenty to fifty years per language. 

Bible translation requires direct human intervention. Artificial intelligence can help with repetitious processes, but these tools require rules and languages routinely break rules. So, a person has to discover the grammatical rules of unwritten languages along with with the exceptions to those rules to feed them into the machine that AI can assist.

What this means practically

“Access to the Gospel” is not just about someone having heard of Jesus once. It is about a people group being able to open a Bible in their own language and understand it. For roughly 1,892 language groups, that starting point does not exist yet.

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