Interesting Facts

Key observations from people group data
South Asia has the most Frontier people groups (2,955), followed by Central Asia (294). Australia and Pacific has the fewest at 22.
Of the 7,360 groups whose populations are under 10,000, the total number of individuals is less than 24,000,000.
1,800 people groups in the world do not have Scripture portions or audio recordings available in their primary language, comprising 115,000,000 individuals.
The largest Least-Reached group in Southeast Asia without Scripture, Jesus film, or audio recordings is the Minangkabau of Malaysia, with 1,010,000 people.
1,717 people groups in the 10/40 Window have neither Scripture portions or the Jesus film available in their primary language, comprising 195,000,000 individuals.
The Mumbai district of Maharashtra state in India has over 10,000,000 residents, more than many countries of the world.
East and Southern Africa is the least urbanized (31%) region of the world. (World Factbook 2011)
It has been estimated there are 460,000 villages (out of a total of 650,000 villages) in India with no known Christian presence.
The top 10 countries with the largest Christian populations include all of the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). (Operation World 2010)
The Mandarin Chinese have a combined population of over 931,000,000 (all countries of residence).
Papua New Guinea has the largest number of groups whose primary religion is Christianity (803), followed by the United States with 377.
Northeast Asia has the highest number of individuals practicing Animism (68,500,000), followed by East and Southern Africa (47,000,000). (Operation World 2010)
275 of the 608 people groups in China do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language.
The largest Hindu group is the Chamar of India, population 52,000,000.
India has 2,041 least-reached groups, followed by Pakistan (786), and China (441).
30 of the 81 people groups in Afghanistan do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language.
More than 1960 church planting movements have been reported in the world at present, 2022.
The United States has the largest population of groups whose primary religion is Christianity (316,000,000), followed by Brazil (216,000,000).
There are 803 Hindu majority people groups over 100,000 in size.
Of Nigeria's 542 people groups, 94 do not have Bible portions, the Jesus film, or gospel recordings available in their primary language, or 1,860,000 individuals.
Census data indicates there are some 24,000,000 Sikhs and 6,174,000 Jains in India.
South Asia has more than five times as many unreached people groups (3,452) as any other region of the world.
The largest people cluster is the Chinese (1,361,000,000), followed by the Hispanic (367,000,000).
All but two groups of Sri Lanka's 149 people groups have at least Bible portions available in its primary language.
The unreached Parsee, found in 9 countries with over 165,000 in total, practice Zoroastrianism.
One fourth of the world's population resides in Frontier people groups, those groups with no more than one Christian per 1,000 individuals. These groups require pioneering missionary effort.
The largest Muslim people group is the Bengali Muslim of Bangladesh, population 135,000,000.
Nigeria has 271 people groups (7,722,000 individuals) whose primary language does not have Bible portions available.
2,952 people groups in South Asia are Frontier, totaling 1,467,000,000 individuals.
North America and the Caribbean have the most Evangelicals (100,500,000), followed by East and Southern Africa (100,100,000). (Operation World 2010)
397 people groups in Central Asia are least-reached, totaling 300,000,000 individuals.
11,499 people groups have the Jesus Film in their primary language, totaling 7,552,000,000 individuals.
The largest Least-Reached group in Central Asia without Scripture, Jesus film, or audio recordings is the Aimaq of Afghanistan, with 1,777,000 people.
The median population of all people groups for which Joshua Project has population values is 15,792. The mean population is 468,601.
2,330 people groups totaling 1,261,000,000 individuals have neither Scripture, the Jesus film, or Christian recordings available in their primary language.
Central Asia has only 1,825,000 evangelicals, followed by North Africa and Middle East (6,050,000) and Eastern Europe and Eurasia (6,096,000).
France has 32 Muslim people groups, the largest of which is the Kabyle Berbers, with 710,000 people.
There are 1,321 Christian majority people groups over 100,000 in size.
Of Iran's 94 people groups, all but 10 are least-reached, and all of these 10 are expatriate groups.
There are 1142 Muslim majority people groups over 100,000 in size.
The largest Least-Reached group in the Middle East / North Africa without Scripture, Jesus film, or audio recordings are the Shabak of Iraq, with 289,000 people.
There are 1,369 primarily Christian groups in the 10/40 Window, the largest being the Yoruba of Nigeria (39,122,000).
Evangelicals are growing at an annual rate of 2.6%, compared to Islam at 1.9% and Hinduism at 1.2% (Operation World 2010)
The 27th Edition of the Ethnologue indicates there are 7,164 living languages in the world, with roughly 44% in danger of not surviving long term. 23 languages account for more than half the world's population.
The Gond people of India speak 127 languages, and the Rajput speak 91.
11 of Sudan's 200 people groups have Christianity as their primary religion, and 176 have Islam as their primary religion.
There are five Least-Reached people groups each over 50,000,000 in population, the largest being the Bengali Muslim of Bangladesh (135,000,000).
Only 73 people groups comprise 50% of the world's population.
Russia has 69 Muslim people groups, the largest of which is the Tatars, with 4,698,000 people.
Seven countries have more than 500 people groups, with India exceeding 2270.
Iran is the country with the fastest growing Evangelical population at 19.6% annual growth. (Operation World 2010).
The Muslim Shaikh have a combined population of over 95,000,000 (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal).
Indonesia has the greatest population of Muslim majority groups (247,000,000), followed by Pakistan (239,000,000) and India (198,000,000).
11% of the world's population (860m individuals) resides in 31 large Frontier people groups. Frontier groups are those with no more than one Christian per 1,000 individuals, and require pioneering missionary work.
The United States, China, Brazil and Nigeria have the greatest number of evangelicals according to Operation World 2010. Kenya has the highest percent evangelicals at 48.9%.
Over 30% (2.5 billion individuals) of the earth's population reside in only 250 Least-Reached people groups.
Hindi is spoken as the primary language by 700 people groups, with English spoken by 537 and Bengali spoken by 379.
China has the largest number of individuals whose primary language does not have Bible portions (90,101,000 individuals).
2,059,000,000 individuals live in people groups (4,833) with very few, if any, believers. These are in the Frontier category.
There are 135 Buddhist majority people groups over 100,000 in size.
2,100 people groups reside in more than one country, summing to 6,580,000,000 individuals.
11,935 people groups have at least the New Testament available in their primary language, totaling 7,362,000,000 individuals.
The four largest Least-Reached people groups are the Bengali Muslim of Bangladesh, Japanese of Japan, the Shaikh of India, and the Turks of Turkey.
418 of Indonesia's 786 people groups do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language. The largest of these is the Deaf, 2,066,000.
The global annual growth rate of Christianity in general is 1.2%, but the growth rate of Evangelicals is 2.6% (Operation World 2010)
South Asia has the most people groups (3,806), followed by West and Central Africa (2,221), and Central Asia has the least (564).
Indonesia has the most people groups (418) whose primary language does not have Bible portions, totaling 11,015,000 individuals.
Some 62% of the world's population live in religiously restrictive countries. 2023 World Religious Freedom Report
If the India state of Uttar Pradesh were a country, it would be the 5th most populous in the world. (Operation World 2010).
The Nai of India have 93 alternate names, and the Kalal have 86 alternate names.
Pakistan has the largest number of groups whose primary religion is Islam (656), followed by India with 345 and Indonesia with 254.
Of India's 2,272 people groups, 1,663 have populations over 10,000, the largest being a Muslim group, the Shaikh at 81,439,000
The largest group without even Scripture portions in their primary language is the Jin Chinese of China, population 47,000,000.
3/4 of the 24,000,000 Sikhs in India live in the state of Punjab. Nearly 3/4 of the 8,905,000 Buddhists in India live in the state of Maharashtra.
The largest Least-Reached group in Northeast Asia without Scripture, Jesus film, or audio recordings is the Western Ghao-Xong of China, with 1,395,000 people.
The world's population will be 68% urban by the year 2050 (United Nations).

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