Setting the Bible aside, the most translated books in the world are The Little Prince (about 600 languages and dialects), The Adventures of Pinocchio (240 or more), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (about 175), Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales (160 or more) and Don Quixote (140 or more). The rest of the top 10 follows below.
The surprise is how many of these globe-trotting books were written for children, and how wobbly the numbers get once you look closely. Below you will find a ranked table with a source for every figure, the stories behind the top titles, and one famous novel whose count nobody can agree on. Explore our translation services for details.
Key Takeaways
- The Bible is far ahead of everything else: the complete text exists in roughly 800 languages, and at least part of it in more than 4,000.
- The Little Prince is the most translated work of fiction, reaching its 600th language or dialect in 2024.
- Six of the top 10 are children’s books, which are short, widely loved and popular with translators working in small languages.
- Every figure is an estimate, because sources disagree on what counts as a language, a dialect or a full translation.
First, How Far Ahead Is the Bible?
Very far. Figures from Wycliffe Bible Translators, summarized on Wikipedia’s page on Bible translations, put the complete Bible in roughly 800 languages. Add the languages that have a New Testament or smaller portions and the total passes 4,000.
No other book comes close, which is why most rankings treat the Bible as a category of its own. The interesting contest is for second place.
How We Ranked the Most Translated Books in the World
A list like this needs ground rules, because the answer changes with the definition. Here are ours: Explore our modern book translation services for details.
- Literary, standalone books only. We left out scripture and religious tracts, political pamphlets such as The Communist Manifesto, and comic series such as Asterix and Tintin.
- Languages, not copies sold. A book can sell hundreds of millions of copies in a few dozen languages. This list counts languages.
- The most recent figure we could trace to a named source. Where an official body (a foundation, an estate, a national institute) publishes a count, we used it.
One honest warning: these are estimates. Some counts include dialects, partial translations and abridged children’s editions, and some do not. Treat the order as a well-supported approximation, especially in the lower half, where a handful of languages separates one title from the next.
What Are the 10 Most Translated Books After the Bible?
| Rank | Book and author | Original language, first published | Languages (approx.) | Source for the figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | French, 1943 | 600 (languages and dialects) | Official Little Prince site, 2024 |
| 2 | The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi | Italian, 1883 (serialized from 1881) | 240+ (some lists claim 300) | Fondazione Nazionale Carlo Collodi, citing UNESCO data |
| 3 | Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll | English, 1865 | About 175 | Alice in a World of Wonderlands (Lindseth and Tannenbaum, 2015) |
| 4 | Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen | Danish, from 1835 | 160+ | University of Southern Denmark, home of the Hans Christian Andersen Centre |
| 5 | Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes | Spanish, 1605 and 1615 | 140+ (in full or in part) | Instituto Cervantes |
| 6 | The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho | Portuguese, 1988 | 88 | Paulo Coelho Foundation |
| 7 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling | English, 1997 | 85 | Wikipedia’s tally of official editions, as of 2025 |
| 8 | Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren | Swedish, 1945 | 80 | The Astrid Lindgren Company (astridlindgren.com) |
| 9 | The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank | Dutch, 1947 | 75+ | Anne Frank House |
| 10 | Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell | English, 1949 | 65+ (count from 1989) | Wikipedia’s article on the novel |
Tenth place is a crowded neighborhood. Orwell’s figure is decades old and surely higher today, and several other classics sit within a few languages of it, so do not be surprised if another list hands that last seat to a different book.
The Stories Behind the Top Five
1. The Little Prince
Saint-Exupéry’s slim fable about a pilot and a boy from a tiny asteroid first appeared in New York in 1943, and only reached France in 1946. In 2024 it gained its 600th translation: Dulegaya, the language of the Guna people of Panama and Colombia. The official site now calls it the world’s most translated book of fiction.
Its length helps. A book you can read in an afternoon is a realistic project for a volunteer translator, a school or a small publisher, which is how it has reached so many minority languages and dialects. Explore our translation of literary works for details.
2. The Adventures of Pinocchio
Collodi’s puppet began life as a newspaper serial in a children’s weekly in July 1881, then came out as a book in 1883. An Italian study in the 1970s counted 220 translations, and the Collodi foundation later reported more than 240, drawing on UNESCO data. You will often see 260 or even 300 quoted, but those larger numbers are harder to trace.
3. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Alice is a translator’s obstacle course. The text is packed with puns, nonsense verse and parodies of poems that Victorian children knew by heart. Even so, French and German versions appeared in 1869, only four years after the original, and a scholarly survey published in 2015 documented translations in about 175 languages.
4. Andersen’s Fairy Tales
The first small booklet of tales came out in Copenhagen on May 8, 1835. Strictly speaking this entry is a body of stories and not one fixed book, since different editions gather different tales. The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor’s New Clothes have traveled into more than 160 languages.
5. Don Quixote
The oldest book on the list was also quick off the mark. Thomas Shelton’s English version of Part One appeared in 1612, while Cervantes was still alive. Spain’s Instituto Cervantes says the novel has been translated, in full or in part, into more than 140 languages and language varieties. Explore our reaching global audiences through translation for details.
Why Do the Numbers Change From Source to Source?
Because nobody keeps an official scoreboard. Each figure comes from a publisher, a foundation, a library catalog or a researcher, and each one counts a little differently. Three questions cause most of the disagreement:
- Is it a language or a dialect? The Little Prince total explicitly includes dialects. A stricter count would be lower.
- Is it a full translation? Don Quixote’s figure includes partial versions. Many children’s classics circulate in abridged retellings.
- How old is the count? Guinness World Records still lists The Little Prince at 382 languages and dialects, an older figure than the 600 announced in 2024.
Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas shows how wide the gap can get. Some sources credit it with as many as 174 languages, which would place it in the top five. French Wikipedia notes that a 2005 research count could document only 57. With a spread that large, we kept it out of the ranking and mention it here instead.
The Tao Te Ching is another special case. It has been translated into Western languages more than 250 times, but we set it aside along with other religious and philosophical scripture. Explore our professional book translation services for details.
What These Books Teach Us About Translation
Every title on this list crossed borders because a person sat down and made hundreds of small decisions: how to carry a pun, a rhyme or a joke into a language where it does not naturally fit. That is skilled human work, and it matters just as much for everyday texts. A contract, a diploma or a family letter deserves the same care as a classic novel. If you are preparing a manuscript, a memoir or business material for readers abroad, our human translators can help through our translation services. For more on the craft itself, see our tips for literary translation and our look at modern book translation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most translated book in the world?
The Bible, by a wide margin. Figures from Wycliffe Bible Translators put the complete Bible in roughly 800 languages, and when you add languages that have only a New Testament or shorter portions, the total passes 4,000. No other book is close, which is why lists like this one usually start counting from second place.
What is the most translated book after the Bible?
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is generally accepted as the most translated non-religious book. Its official site announced the 600th translation in 2024, a count that includes dialects as well as languages. The Adventures of Pinocchio is usually ranked second, with more than 240 languages reported by the Collodi foundation.
Is Harry Potter one of the most translated books?
Yes. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, published in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, has been translated into about 85 languages. The list includes Latin, Ancient Greek and Scots alongside the major world languages. That places it in the top 10 of literary works, though far behind The Little Prince and Pinocchio. Explore our expert document translation services for details.
Why are so many of the most translated books children’s books?
Children’s classics tend to be short, which makes them affordable to translate and print, even for a language with few speakers. Their themes of friendship, growing up and curiosity travel easily between cultures. They are also the books that parents, teachers and volunteer translators most want to pass on in their own language. Together those factors push the language counts up.
How accurate are counts of translated languages?
They are reasonable estimates, not exact measurements. No single organization tracks every translation of every book, so figures come from publishers, foundations, library catalogs and researchers who use different rules. Some include dialects, partial translations and abridged editions, and some figures are years out of date. Check the source and the date before you quote a number.
Have a Story That Needs to Travel?
Whether it is a book, a certificate or a single page, our human translators are ready to help it reach new readers. Chat with us for a quote, or call 1-800-230-7918 to talk through your project.
