A new report from the Bible Access Initiative offers a sobering picture of life for much of the global church: even in an age of smartphones and instant information, nearly half a billion Christians around the world cannot fully access the Bible.

The findings come from the just-released 2026 Bible Access List, the second such analysis from the coalition. The report evaluates 106 countries and identifies where believers face the greatest obstacles to Scripture — some entirely, and others in part. Among the most striking numbers: 125 million Christians are unable to access God's Word in any format whatsoever, even in countries where owning a Bible is technically legal and safe.

“We often hear that the Bible is more accessible than ever, but we must not confuse availability with access,” said Wybo Nicolai, co-founder of the Bible Access List. He noted that persecution-related restrictions can make obtaining Scripture difficult or dangerous, while socioeconomic barriers can put a Bible beyond people's reach — and that even where the Bible is available digitally, limited internet coverage or unsafe online environments can still cut believers off.

The barriers are many and compounding: persecution-related restrictions, social hostility toward Christians, threats from extremist groups, failing infrastructure, poverty, lack of internet access, limited electricity, and illiteracy.

The five countries with the heaviest Bible-access restrictions, in order, are Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, and Eritrea. In Afghanistan, the researchers report, “God's Word is the most dangerous book any Afghan can possess,” and its discovery can cost a believer his or her life. In North Korea, every dimension of Bible access is prohibited; Christians are treated as enemies of the state, and a Bible found in a routine house search can mean execution or a life sentence in a forced labor camp.

But the analysis also spotlights places where no law restricts Scripture and believers still go without. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, India, and Uganda, millions of Christians face what the report calls a shortage of access rather than a legal ban. The Democratic Republic of Congo is home to more than 107 million Christians, yet fewer than a third of them own a Bible. No law restricts access there — but the DRC is among the poorest countries in the world, only about one in five people have electricity, and poor roads make remote communities difficult to reach in a country the size of Western Europe.

The report is a reminder that the work of Bible translation and distribution is far from finished. Millions of Christians who love Christ have never held His Word in their hands — and the church that has it in abundance has a duty to share it.