More than 76 million copies of the Book of Mormon have been placed since it was first printed in 1829.
Well over half the total, more than 43 million, have been circulated in the past decade. The Book of Mormon has been translated into many languages, with selections from the Book of Mormon currently available in 48 languages and the complete book available in 40 languages. (See chart, page 7.)These 88 languages are spoken by an estimated 70 percent of the world's total population. Most of the translations of additional languages have taken place since 1970, reflecting the Church's international expansion during this period of time.
In 1982, a subtitle was added to the Book of Mormon, "Another Testament of Jesus Christ."
President Gordon B. Hinckley recently summarized the progress of circulating the Book of Mormon:
"I think of the Prophet Joseph's struggle in getting out the first edition of the Book of Mormon. There were five thousand copies in that first edition, and its printing was made possible only through the generosity of Martin Harris. You may be interested to know that last year 3,742,629 copies of the Book of Mormon were distributed. All or substantial parts of the book are printed in 85 languages. We may not be flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon, as President [Ezra Taft] Benson had urged us to do, but let me say that it is no small thing to distribute three and three-quarter million copies in a single year." (General conference, Sept. 30, 1995.)
