For the primary time ever more digital copies of Scripture were shared than print versions, the United Bible Societies Fellowship (UBS) has said.
In its Scripture Distribution Statistics report for 2024, UBS said that the variety of printed Bibles distributed internationally fell from 24.2 million in 2023 to 22.5 million last 12 months. However, the variety of online Bibles distributed was 25.9 million, surpassing physical copies for the primary time.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the countries with the most important populations that received probably the most physical copies of the Bible. Brazil topped the charts with 4.2 million, followed by India at 1.8 million and China with 1.6 million, Evangelical Focus reports.
Around half of the printed Bibles were in only three languages, with Spanish being probably the most common at 4.5 million, 4 million in Portuguese and three.2 million in English.
With the growing importance of the digital marketplace for the Bible, the UBS report now also includes additional details about online interactions with Scripture.
2024 saw 28.3 billion chapter views on Bible apps and 1.3 billion audio views. The report noted that demand for Bible apps was growing as a consequence of the growing preference for digital communication methods.
Dirk Gevers, General Secretary of the UBS, said, “Every Bible distributed, no matter format, enables a very important connection between God’s living Word and a one that longs for truth, comfort or change.”
He added, “it stays our task to faithfully administer the Holy Scriptures so that every one people can have access to the Word of God in their very own language and of their preferred format”.
The UBS also detailed its own contribution to the spread of God’s word. The group has printed 2.6 billion Scriptures during the last decade, including 276.9 million Bibles, 102.3 million copies of the New Testament, and a couple of.2 billion Scripture portions and selections.
 For the primary time ever more digital copies of Scripture were shared than print versions, the United Bible Societies Fellowship (UBS) has said....){kind=link}