Bible Translation Movement Shows Big Progress

After a predictable slowdown during the first two years of the pandemic, the global Bible translation movement saw major advances in the past year — with Asia and Africa leading the way.

Today, more people speaking more languages have access to more of the Bible than at any time in history, according to ProgressBible. Up to 97.4 percent of all people in the world have access to at least some Scripture, with up to 80 percent having the full Bible and 91 percent having at least the New Testament. These numbers are rising rapidly. In the past year (August 2022 to August 2023) alone:

• 60 million more people have access to the full Bible in the language they know best.
• 27 million more people have access to the New Testament.
• Bible translation work has begun in 356 more languages.

Terry Dehart, data analyst with ProgressBible, partially attributes the acceleration this year to a rebound from the pandemic years. Another large factor, he adds, is that the collective Every Tribe Every Nation (ETEN) is making a big push with its partners around the world to start Bible translation and then report on progress.

More than half of all languages on earth now have Bible translation work happening—some for the first time and some working toward complete Bibles or undergoing revisions. According to ProgressBible, the world has 7,394 living languages (including hundreds of Deaf sign languages not always reflected in other lists).

This leaves the number of language communities waiting for Bible translation to begin at just 1,268 — 412 fewer than a year ago. In other words, almost 25 percent of the remaining languages listed in 2022 saw projects planned or started in 2023. And, for the first time, the number of people in the world waiting for Bible translation to begin is under 100 million — only about 1.3 percent of all people.

Indonesia, Nigeria and Papua New Guinea each started or have planned projects in 30 or more languages in the past year. Those three countries account for more than half of the global increase in the past year.

Notable for 2023’s snapshot is the acceleration as compared to the worst years of the pandemic, 2020-2022.

A maturing movement

Dehart says he sees evidence in these statistics that the Bible translation movement is maturing. Where previous generations’ goal often was “missionaries arrive, work, complete the New Testament and move on”, today a much larger vision has taken shape — completing the whole Bible, updating and revising dated translation, often with language communities and local churches taking on more of the task themselves — along with helping their communities continually engage with the translated Scripture.

“It’s much more of an ongoing task than a single event,” Dehart notes, adding that “hundreds of languages with a Bible or New Testament and an ongoing project” indicate progress beyond initial objectives toward sustaining complete translations long-term.

Stephen Coertze, executive director of the Wycliffe Global Alliance, affirmed the importance of Scripture Access statistics as one way to measure progress in worldwide Bible translation.

“But the real stories are found in changed lives and communities as people encounter God through his Word, and as the worldwide church moves toward greater unity in Christ,” Coertze stated.

The Alliance’s vision remains focused on transformation through God’s Word in each language and culture.

“Though we continue to celebrate translation starts and work in progress, we continue to work toward full Scripture translation for each language community, adequate revisions, and Scripture in the format (written, oral, signed) that each language community needs,” he added.