Bible sales in the U.S. have surged by 22% this year compared to the same period in 2023, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

This increase, fueled by first-time buyers, is starkly contrasted with the less than 1% growth in total U.S. print book sales during the same timeframe, as tracked by Circana BookScan.

Publishers attribute the rise to heightened anxiety over economic instability, international conflicts, and the upcoming election, as well as targeted marketing.

By the end of October 2024, over 13.7 million Bibles had been sold, a 41% jump from 2019, when sales totalled 9.7 million.

The surge comes as cultural shifts in American Christianity gain attention, with young men from Generation Z becoming more religiously active than their female peers for the first time in modern history, according to a report published by The New York Times in September.