Through the Bible, God speaks directly to every person. But unless people have Scripture in their heart language, they cannot read his message of life and hope. Thousands of languages still don’t have even one Bible verse. Together with our partners worldwide our vision is to see Bible translation in progress among every language group that needs it by the year 2025.

How many languages are there?
According to Ethnologue, There are 6,912 spoken languages in the world. The breakdown is:

• Africa 2,092 (30.3%)
• Americas 1,002 (14.5%)
• Asia 2,269 (32.8%)
• Europe 239 (3.5%)
• Pacific 1,310 (19.0%)

How many languages have Scripture?
2,403 or 35%. Of these, 426 have a complete Bible, another 1,115 have the New Testament. 862 others have at least one book of the Bible.

How many projects are in progress?
There are 1,941 active projects around the globe today. That's a record number. Since Vision 2025 commenced in 1999, we average one new project start every week.

How many languages still need translation?
In addition to the active projects work needs to begin in around 2,286 languages.

How many people have no Scripture?
More than 272 million. 233 million of these speak languages where work has now begun.

How many languages is Wycliffe currently involved in?
About 1,379 languages (71% of all translation work currently being done) representing nearly 600 million people from 97 countries. This includes work among people who live outside their traditional homelands.

In how many languages has Wycliffe been involved in completing a Bible translation?
In its 70-year history, Wycliffe personnel have been involved in the translation of New Testaments or complete Bibles in 710 languages, representing 78 million people. (Wycliffe personnel have been involved in 70% of projects worldwide that are providing an initial translation for the people group).

Spread the word!
Most of the above details are also part of our PowerPoint presentations. Download one of our presentations here, email it to your friends or show it in your church or small-group.

Wycliffe seeks to provide the most accurate statistics from reliable sources. The above statistics are the most current estimates available for November 2006. Improvements in information gathering may result in occasional discrepancies in the totals from year to year.