Updates

Languages which have received scripture translations for the first time, as well as new books or major revisions in existing scripture languages, are report annually in the United Bible Societies' Scripture Language Report (UBS, 2006). This report has been coded here for the World Language Classification and is now incorporated into the World Christian Database.

Availability of scripture is a major factor in a People's evangelization (hearing the good news about God directly from God's Word) so results from these additional translations are seen in data changes across the Database.

e.g. Languages with a book of the Bible, or New Testament or a whole Bible published in 2005 or 2006 can be seen by subscribers in this query: "Languages with fresh translations".

About half of the world’s governments ask a question about religion in their decennial censuses. We have recently incorporated data from censuses taken from 2000 to 2006. Many of these censuses also ask questions related to ethnicity and language. We have used this information to update our understanding of the world’s peoples and their relation to religion.