Updates

Community celebrations at the launch of fresh scripture translations reflect the significance of each and every date listed in the Recent translations query on the Scripture home page.

Each year Bible Societies and agencies around the world report on their work of translating the scriptures into new languages or revisions, and on the distribution of printed scripture products (Bibles, New Testaments, Portions and Selections).

The United Bible Societies annual report also collates distribution data by country from each of the individual Bible Societies. WCD reports these data as a rolling 5-year average, updated this quarter, together with estimates of non-UBS distribution. See the "Scripture" fields for adding to country-level queries such as Scriptures in the Country and Regions home page.

Methodological update: Counting Evangelicals is the latest section of WCD's methodology document describing four methods of counting Evangelical Christians.











Photo by Sarah Halferty of Wycliffe Bible Translators, PNG, from her web page describing the Waskia Bible Dedication.

The populations of every religion in every country are freshly reconciled with each biennial revision of the population data produced by the UN: (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015). World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision).

This WCD update includes the latest re-reconciliation of statistics on all Christian denominations and world religions together with projections of religious adherents for 2020, 2025, 2030 and 2050.

The update also includes over 60 new peoples groups (with more to come) which have either grown sufficiently in size to list separately in a new country, or speak a newly recognized language identified in the 17th edition of the Ethnologue.

Methodological update: Counting Pentecostals is a new section of the methodology document describing WCD's classification of “the Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal of the Holy Spirit” into three kinds or types.