How to Install `babel` in Python

v2.18.0 General Purpose Python >=3.8 BSD-3-Clause

Internationalization utilities

Install pip install babel

What is babel?

Internationalization utilities

A collection of tools for internationalizing Python applications.

Documentation → PyPI page → Author: Armin Ronacher

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with babel:

import babel

print(babel.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install babel

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install babel

pip3

pip3 install babel

conda

conda install -c conda-forge babel

Poetry

poetry add babel

Dependencies

Installing babel will also install these packages:

pytz

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import babel; print(babel.__version__)"

If this prints a version number, installation succeeded. If you see a ModuleNotFoundError, see the errors section below.

Installation Errors

Common errors when installing babel with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'babel'

Cause: The package is not installed in the current Python environment.

Fix: Run pip install babel. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'babel' (installed but still failing)

Cause: pip installed the package into a different Python than the one running your script.

Fix: Use python -m pip install babel to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'babel'

Cause: The function or class does not exist in the installed version.

Fix: Check the version with pip show babel and upgrade with pip install --upgrade babel.

pip: command not found

Cause: pip is not in PATH or Python was not added to PATH during installation.

Fix: Try python -m pip install babel. On macOS/Linux try pip3.

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Cause: No write access to the system Python package directory.

Fix: Use a virtual environment, or add --user: pip install --user babel

SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: pip cannot verify PyPI's SSL certificate — common behind corporate proxies.

Fix: Try: pip install --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org babel

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`2.18.0` latest	2026-02-01
`2.17.0`	2025-02-01
`2.16.0`	2024-08-08
`2.15.0`	2024-05-05
`2.14.0`	2023-12-12

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage babel

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade babel

Install a specific version

pip install babel==2.18.0

Uninstall

pip uninstall babel

Check what is installed

pip show babel

Last updated: 2026-04-11 • Data from PyPI

How to Install babel in Python