In 2024, the United Bible Societies (UBS) Fellowship distributed over 150 million printed Scriptures (full Bibles, New Testaments and Bible books published separately), across 240 countries and territories.
The UBS annual Scripture Distribution Statistics report states that the countries with the most printed Bibles were Brazil (4.2 million), India (1.8 million) and China (1.6 million).
Regarding the language, most Bibles were again in Spanish (4.5 million), followed by Portuguese (4 million) and English (3.2 million).
Data from UBS.
More digital than printed Bibles
Data on the distribution of Bibles show that, with 25.9 million copies distributed, digital editions surpassed printed Bibles for the first time, with the number of these falling to 22.5 million (compared to 24.2 million in 2023).
“The growing importance of digital distribution channels is also reflected in the demand for Bible apps”, says the report . The UBS has published specific figures on their use for the first time.
According to the report, there were 28.3 billion chapter views and 1.3 billionaudio views of the Bible on apps in 2024 alone.
Data from UBS.
“Every Bible distributed, regardless of format, enables an important connection between God’s living Word and a person who longs for truth, comfort or change”, points out Dirk Gevers, General Secretary of the UBS.
That is why “it remains our task to faithfully administer the Holy Scriptures so that all people can have access to the Word of God in their own language and in their preferred format”, he adds.
2.6 billion printed Scriptures in 10 years
Over the past ten years, the UBS Fellowship distributed 2.6 billion printed Scriptures. This includes:
- 276.9 million full Bibles
- 102.3 million New Testaments
- 2.2 billion Scripture portions and selections
Data from UBS.
The Scripture Distribution Statistics report of the UBS only takes into account the figures of publishers and organisations that belong to the world association. It is published every year.