Latest News #390
January 23, 2007

A STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF LANGUAGES
WITH THE SCRIPTURES

A summary, by geographical area and type of publication, of the number of different languages and dialects in which publication of at least one book of the Bible had been registered as of December 31, 2006*.

 
Continent/Region
Portions
Testaments
Bibles
Bibles,
DC**
Total
Africa
221    
312    
160    
(29)    
693   
Asia
221    
246    
132    
(28)    
599   
Australia/New Zealand/
  Pacific Islands
143    
242    
38    
(9)    
423   
Europe
114    
37    
61    
(47)    
212   
North America
39    
30    
7    
(0)    
76   
Caribbean Islands /
Central America /   
Mexico/South America
113    
277    
30    
(10)    
420   
Constructed
Languages
2    
0    
1    
(0)    
3   
TOTALS
853    
1,144    
    429  
(123)    
2,426   

* This statistical summary includes a complete NT in Quechua: Lowland Napo published in 1988 and preserved in the SIL Archives. This Scripture was not listed in our previous reports.

** This column is a sub-section of the Bibles column – for example, there is a translation of the Deuterocanon for 47 of the 61 languages of Europe in which the Bible has been translated.