Updates

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).

Publication dates, often representing the culmination of many years translation efforts and great community celebrations, are listed in the Recent translations query on the Scripture home page.

The United Bible Societies annual report also collates distribution data 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.

Minority religions including future projections for Northern Africa and Western Asia

Population estimates and future projections for minority religions in Northern Africa and Western Asia (including the Middle East), have been updated and re-reconciled with UN population data for each country.

The update includes revisions to the denominational database, particularly the 2015 estimates, as well as to the religious percentages of people groups in 2015 in light of migration reports documenting the refugee situation from zones of crisis.

Flowing from this, future projections for the years 2020-2050 for Christianity and other minor religions in each country have also been revised.