Volume 1 (14th edition) lists 6,809 languages alphabetically by primary name under the country of the main population. It includes available alternate names, dialects, number of speakers, multilingualism, and other demographic and sociolinguistic information. It iss a valuable resource for linguists, educators, international assistance agencies, government agencies, and anyone interested in endangered languages and complex language situations of the world.

Barbara F. Grimes assisted with the early editions and was editor from 1971 to January 1, 2000. She did fieldwork with SIL International in Mexico (1952 to 1969), and was assigned to the SIL Hawaii Pidgin language project. She holds a Doctorate in Literature from Wheaton College.