The United Bible Societies distributed 148.3 million printed Scriptures last year as the mission celebrated its 80th anniversary, noting that 25 billion scriptures have been given out since its founding in 1946, including 1.1 billion Bibles across 240 countries.
The figure from the recently released “UBS Distribution Statistics Report 2025” includes 22.4 million full Bibles, 10 million New Testaments, and 115.9 million printed Scripture “portions and selections.”
“While printed Scriptures remain an essential part of Bible ministry, the report also reflects changing patterns in how people access God’s Word,” UBS said.
In the past decade, UBS has distributed 2.3 billion printed Scriptures, reflecting a “sustained commitment to making God’s Word available to people everywhere.”
“Bible distribution remains at the heart of our ministry because translation fulfils its purpose only when Scripture reaches people’s hands and hearts,” UBS said.
Digital scripture engagement is a key driver for reaching people with the Word of God.
Bible Society resources were downloaded 26.4 million times, with Bible chapters viewed 32.2 billion times - a 13.8% increase compared with the previous year. Audio Scripture was played 1.4 billion times.
“These figures demonstrate that people are increasingly engaging with the Bible through mobile devices and digital platforms, while printed Scriptures continue to play a vital role in many parts of the world,” UBS said.
The report also reviewed how Bible engagement differed in regions across the world. Distribution was highest in Central and South America with almost 98.5 million portions and selections.
Asia continued to show sustained demand for New Testaments and introductory Scripture resources, while Africa demonstrated balanced growth in Bible distribution.
This was lower in the West, but UBS said that people were engaging more via digital means in this region.
“North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania accounted for comparatively smaller volumes, suggesting that Bible engagement strategies in these regions may increasingly rely on digital access rather than print distribution,” UBS said.
Leading languages for printed full Bible distribution last year remained consistent with previous years.
“Spanish, Portuguese, English, Mandarin, and Indonesian continued as the top five languages, reflecting both population size and active Bible engagement initiatives in those linguistic communities,” UBS said. “Swahili, French, Tagalog, and Telugu also retained their positions within the top 10, while Korean replaced Arabic in 2025.”
Altogether, the top 10 languages represented 69% of global full Bible distribution, slightly lower than 71.8% in 2024.
English and Spanish were the top two languages for digital Bible chapter views last year, with almost equal shares. However, Portuguese also dominated.
“Within digital Bible downloads, Spanish and English rank second and third, respectively, while Portuguese leads with 62.7% of total downloads,” UBS said.
“Portuguese is third behind English and Spanish in chapter views, with approximately 5.5 billion, or 17.1% of the total globally. French, Indonesian, and Chinese also remained major languages for digital distribution, reflecting both large language populations and strong digital Bible usage.”
For audio plays, Spanish and Portuguese led globally, together accounting for nearly three-fourths (72.9%) of all top language audio activity, followed by French and English, UBS said.
“Collectively, these figures demonstrate lives being touched, communities being strengthened, and the sustained commitment of Bible Societies to ensure everyone has an opportunity to read and hear God’s Word through access to Scripture,” UBS said.
“The statistics reflect both continuity and change. Rising printing and transport costs continue to affect print distribution, while digital platforms are opening new opportunities for people to read, hear, and engage with Scripture wherever they are.
“Together, these trends reinforce the same enduring mission that has shaped the Bible Society movement for 80 years: ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to encounter God’s Word in a language and format they understand.”
