wfn.org | INTERNATIONAL: BIBLE STILL BESTSELLER

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

April 11, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal,Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
Lodon, U.K

[97.4.2.1]

INTERNATIONAL: BIBLE STILL BESTSELLER

(ENI) More copies of the Bible are still being printed than any other
book, according to United Bible Societies (UBS), based in Reading,
England.

According to the UBS's report on Bible distribution in 1996, the 124
national Bible societies around the world distributed  "530 659 106
Bibles, New Testaments, Portions and Selections and New Reader
materials". Although that figure was smaller than that for 1995, UBS
said that the 1996 distribution "19.4 million copies - of the complete
Bible was a new record and an increase of 9.1 per cent over 1995".

The significant increase in distribution of the complete Bible is
largely the result of mass publication in the Americas and the
Asia-Pacific region. Amity Press in Nanjing, China, which began
operations in 1987, recently printed its 15-millionth copy of the Bible.
In 1996 three million copies of the Bible were distributed by Churches
in China.

After China, the two countries with the highest numbers of Bible
distribution were the United States and Brazil. Bible distribution for
the Americas was up by 19 per cent in 1996 (compared to 1995), and in
the Asia Pacific region distribution increased by 11.6 per cent.

A huge increase - 72.4 per cent - in distribution of the New Testament
in the Europe-Middle East region in 1996 was due in part to figures from
Denmark where the Danish Bible Society distributed more than
half-a-million copies to a total of 98 per cent of  households in
Copenhagen during 10 days in September to mark the city's role as 1996
European Cultural Capital.

John Ball, publishing services coordinator at UBS, said this week: The
sheer size of some of these totals, sometimes representing breathtaking
growth in distribution in particular parts of the world, leaves the
reader with a sense of gratitude to God for what has been done. But they
can also disguise reality. There is still much more to be done if we are
to provide everyone with easier access to the Scriptures, whether as a
printed item or CD-ROM or as an audio or video tape, in a way that best
suits their needs.