Limitations of Bible Translation Statistics

In the last half-century, Bible translation work has dramatically accelerated. The increase in pace has raised the idea of eradicating Bible poverty. With such a goal in view, there needs to be a way to measure Bible translation progress and see how close we are to the finish line. This has led many Bible translation organizations to band together to produce comprehensive statistics. 

However, the simplicity of the statistics can obscure the complexity surrounding the data.

At All-Nations, we share a few statistics on our website, drawn from data compiled by ProgressBible. However, Progress Bible states, “This report is not an all-inclusive report of every need for Scripture. It simply prioritizes those that have zero Scripture and haven’t been started. We understand that many languages may be missing from this remaining needs list due to not having an ISO code, being a dialect with distinct needs, having limited or old Scripture, etc.” (ProgressBible Report Description: Remaining Translation Need Report. June 2025.)

The present needs among real people can’t be adequately represented in a global database of numbers. Let’s explore some of those limitations.

Unacknowledged languages

Seventy-five years ago, Wycliffe Bible Translators began publishing language statistics to accompany and give guidance to their translation work. They printed the early editions of Ethnologue, which were dedicated to clarifying the global need for Bible translation. A language or dialect was acknowledged on the basis of an evaluation that it needed its own literature (including, of course, its own translated Bible). 

Today, Ethnologue has changed hands. Its data—originally collected by Bible translators—is privately owned, and it claims no responsibility for defining languages. That is now handled by an officially disinterested party, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). A language is not recognized until the ISO committee says it is a language and assigns it an official ISO 639-3 code. Other than a few sign languages, Bible translation statistics published by ProgressBible use exclusively the ISO system of acknowledged languages. (See Nathaniel Statezni. Isn’t Bible Translation All Done Now? Bible Translation Conference, October 2025)

This has significant implications. In a presentation given at the 2025 Bible Translation Conference, Myanmar translator Paing Nan shares how his own language is grouped with six other regional languages under a single ISO code. These seven languages are represented in the statistics as a singular language, and, once Bible translation is done in one of the languages, the statistics will report no further translation needs. Without an ISO code, Paing Nan’s language group and the other six related language groups will all struggle to receive funding for appropriate Bible translation work, as well as development of educational material and other literature. Paing Nan states that the ISO committee has rejected requests for his language to be officially recognized as unique.

“Linguists have determined that 12-14 different Bible translations are needed to meet the needs of the 50 or so [T] tribes in [S] Region. However, all the [T] languages are given just one ISO, so no translations are underway or even planned—as the Christian mission world thinks there is a single language called [T].”

Paul Hattaway of Asia Harvest reports that in one Southeast Asian country (From personal correspondence)

Hattaway further mentions that in this same country, Asia Harvest has profiled over 100 language groups that need their own Scripture, but are not acknowledged as languages by the ISO committee, and thus are not recognized in the official statistics of Bible translation need. (From personal correspondence. See a similar note in this post or others on the Asia Harvest website.)

Depending whose research you use, the Tarahumara speakers of Mexico can be categorized into anywhere from three to five (or more!) different dialects (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarahumara_language). Typically, none of those lists includes a clear listing for the unique variant used in the villages where an All-Nations team is currently working.

In addition to languages recognized with an ISO code (and those rejected), a number of requests are pending review by the ISO committee. Since these are not yet acknowledged, they do not appear in the official Bible translation statistics. (For further research, see https://iso639-3.sil.org/)

Projects started

Since 1999, Wycliffe Bible Translators and many others have adopted Vision 2025: “to have a translation program in progress in every language still needing one by the year 2025.” Interpretation of the phrase, “a translation program in progress,” can get creative. 

A translator in Papua New Guinea reports, “At least one agency counts ‘starts’ when a computer tablet is handed to a speaker of the not yet started [sic] language. Then these nationals come to me asking for help with their tablet while the agency that handed them the tablet advertises ‘300 starts this year!’” (Rich Mattocks, Tyndale Bible Translators, unpublished article).

Mattocks further states: “Over the last decade, I have watched as varying classification methods were used to tighten and reduce the number of remaining languages in need of Scripture. According to one agency in Papua New Guinea, the number of new translations needed has dropped from 335 to 220 languages in under 10 years. Some of the 115 languages removed were due to creating language translation cluster projects, or missionaries doubling the languages they would try to work with. A few more were independent projects, but from my observation, over half were dropped due to application of new counting metrics.”

ProgressBible’s statistic for “work in progress” includes some languages where “other activities” are being done, not actual Bible translation (ProgressBibleTM. SNAPSHOT). Since November 2024, even the intent to engage counts as work in progress. A language is no longer listed in translation needs when any of the following is reported: 

  1. Planned translation: a team is in place and a start date has been set.
  2. Community relationship: prior to the above, steps have been taken to establish a vision for Bible translation in the community.
  3. Intent to engage: an organization intends to initiate the above sometime in the future (ProgressBible, November 2024 newsletter, Vol. 8.3).

The goal is to prevent duplicating efforts, where several organizations might approach the same people group. How many of these good “intents to engage” will result in meaningful translation work is unknown, but including them affects the statistics by decreasing the apparent number of languages needing Scripture.

Unacknowledged needs

Inevitably, a database of global need for Bible translation reflects some designations that may look very different in close-up reality, and especially to the language community themselves.

ProgressBible’s statistics include a category called “Low Language Vitality.” Because these languages are not expected to be in regular use much longer, they may not need a Bible translation. However, they are without a translated Bible, and a final decision about the need would need to be made through on-the-ground survey and research. This would help determine whether the language is indeed dying out, what level of fluency the people across generations have in another language, and significantly, the perceived needs of any believers there might be among them. 

A translator in Africa shared that the reality in their country differs significantly from ProgressBible’s statistics. Many groups were given tiny portions of Scripture, but largely passed over, because they were deemed to be somewhat bilingual with English. This individual felt that the churches were not thriving because they needed mother-tongue Bibles. (from personal conversation including an All-Nations member)

Bible portions and oral translation

Another reason for the apparently low number of languages with no Scripture is that there are languages which have Bible portions translated but no ongoing work. These Bible portions may range from small story collections to whole Bible books or even significant portions of the New Testament.

Beyond that, a common practice has been to stop translation after completing the New Testament. Hundreds of language groups are left without the Old Testament—a large portion of the Bible that lays a critical foundation for a maturing church. They lack the full background story of God and His people that sets the stage for the arrival of Jesus, the promised Messiah. Though not Scriptureless, these languages can hardly be considered to have their need for Bible translation met.

An increasing number of translations, from a few stories to the whole Bible, are being done without any text at all. Translators internalize (not memorize) the message from a source translation, then produce an oral telling in the target language through a process of recording and review. Nothing is written down, and the hard work of providing education in literacy is avoided. Such a resource may add value as an additional resource with a textual Bible translation; however, when this approach is honored in the Bible translation statistics, we find the numbers less useful.

Conclusion

Many factors affect the accuracy and relevance of the published statistics. But note this: Even as the number of languages with no Scripture and no expected need declines toward zero, only about ten percent of the world’s languages have the whole Bible.

Bible translation continues to be the defining function of All-Nations. Our overarching goal is the establishment of maturing local churches, and it is to that end that All-Nations members commit themselves to rigorous training and dedicate years to facilitating Bible translation. The nature of the work, the way the statistics are measured, and the tools used may all change, but Bible translation will cease altogether only when the church of Jesus Christ is completed and glorified. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

For more information about Bible translation needs and statistics, read these articles on the All-Nations blog:

 

Scroll to Top