Bible still hot in NZ
The Bible remains New Zealand’s best-selling book by some tens-of-thousands.
Bible Society distributed over 60,000 Bibles in the year ended October 31 and they estimate that other New Zealand
agencies have distributed at least another 20,000 Bibles during the year.
“The reported decline in Christianity in New Zealand is certainly not reflected in the number of Scriptures we
distribute,” said Bible Society chief executive, Colin Reed.
“As well as hardcopy Bibles being as popular as ever the distribution of electronic Bibles increased a massive 20% last
year,” he said.
Mr Reed said there are three major factors contributing to this increase.
“Firstly, it’s the high level of personal computer use in New Zealand; secondly, there’s a large increase in the
availability of a range of Bibles and biblical resources in electronic format; and thirdly, purpose-written software
which integrates large collections of books into a single library is now available and affordable.”
He added that electronic Bible sales account for almost 10% of all Bibles sold in New Zealand.