All people groups, who either live in a particular region or have similar cultural roots. Peoples are broadly grouped into 16 blocs with affinities based on language, culture, religion, politics. In nearly every Bloc there are widely dissimilar and unrelated linguistic minorities, but often there is one particular culture that is dominant.

Affinity Blocs are the top level of the Ethnic Peoples tree and use the Joshua Project code PeopleID1 which is related to the Harvest Information System code ROP1.

See also:

• Affinity Blocs listing
• Interactive Ethnic Peoples tree
• Johnstone Affinity Blocs and People Clusters article

Source: Patrick Johnstone

0 to 5 ranking of the progress of missions activity among a particular people group. Supporting data may or may not be available.

Source: Patrick Johnstone

One who professes to be a follower of the Christian religion in any form. This definition is based on the individuals self-confession, not his or her ecclesiology, theology or religious commitment and experience.

This includes professing and affiliated adults and also their children (practicing and non-practicing) who reside in a given area or country, or who are of a particular ethno-linguistic or ethno-cultural people.

This is the broadest possible classification of Christian and includes the six ecclesiological types of Christians: Protestant, Roman Catholic, Other Catholic, Orthodox, Foreign marginal, Indigenous marginal as defined in Operation World. Christian Adherent numbers include the Evangelicals subset.

Source: Operation World

Usually written as "church" with lower case "c." A gathering of followers of Christ. Does not imply a building or specific location. A fellowship of believers committed to spiritual growth and mutual encouragement. Starting these fellowships is often called church planting.

Source: Patrick Johnstone

0 to 5 ranking of the progress of church growth among a particular people group. Supporting data may or may not be available.

Source: Patrick Johnstone

A coding mechanism developed by the World Christian Database for classifying people groups. Consists of six characters with each column having a specific meaning. An example is the Tajik with culture code CNT24g.

1st letter = ethnicity. "C"=Caucasian
2nd letter = geographic ethnicity. "N"=Indo-Iranian
3rd letter = major culture area. "T"=Tan
4-5th numbers = identifies ethnocultural family
6th letter = identifies people within family

Source: World Christian Database

Groupings of individuals based primarily on ethnic or community boundaries. One ethnic group may speak any number of languages, because (a) many individuals are multi-lingual, and (b) language spoken often varies by location of the individuals in the group. Assumes the acceptance barrier is higher than the understandability barrier. For the related article about how people groups are defined, click here.

The Ethnic People model is most appropriate for church planting and discipleship, but not highly appropriate for language-based outreaches. This approach is most needed in South Asia, where the caste system has produced strong community boundaries. For the related article about caste defining people groups (also called communities) in South Asia, click here.

See also:

• Ethnic Peoples listing
• Interactive Ethnic Peoples tree
• Johnstone Ethnic Peoples article

Source: Joshua Project

A hierachical structure classifying people groups. It is a four level tree structure starting with 16 Affinity Blocs, branching to 251 People Clusters, then to 9,803 People Groups and finally to 16,350 Peoples-by-Country.

See also:

• Interactive Ethnic Peoples tree
• Affinity Bloc listing
• People Cluster listing
• Peoples listing
• Peoples-by-Country listing
• Johnstone Ethnic Peoples article

Source: Joshua Project and Patrick Johnstone

Groupings of individuals based primarily on language spoken, but with the possibility of sub-divisions based upon dialect or cultural distinctives.

Using this method, one language group equals one or more ethnic groups. This assumes that the "understandability barrier" to the gospel message is higher than the "acceptance barrier." For the related article about how people groups are defined, click here.

The Ethno-linguistic people group model is appropriate for language-based out reaches of various kinds. It is more appropriate for church planting / discipleship than a strictly linguistic / language group approach, because it recognizes understandability and acceptance barriers that a strictly language-based approach may not.

However the Ethno-linguistic approach is less appropriate for church planting / discipleship activity when the acceptance barrier is higher than the understandability barrier. The Ethno-linguistic people group model is appropriate in most of the world, outside of the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Source: Joshua Project

Followers of Christ who generally emphasize:

• The Lord Jesus Christ as the sole source of salvation through faith in Him.
• Personal faith and conversion with regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
• A recognition of the inspired Word of God as the only basis for faith and living.
• Commitment to Biblical preaching and evangelism that brings others to faith in Christ.

The noun "Evangelical" is capitalized since it represents a body of Christians with a fairly clearly defined theology (as also Orthodox and Catholic bodies, etc.). Evangelicals are here defined as:

• All affiliated Christians (church members, their children, etc.) of denominations that are evangelical in theology as defined above.
• The proportion of the affiliated Christians in other denominations (that are not wholly evangelical in theology) who would hold evangelical views.
• The proportion of affiliated Christians in denominations in non-Western nations (where doctrinal positions are less well defined) that would be regarded as Evangelicals by those in the above categories.
• This is a theological and not an experiential definition. It does not mean that all Evangelicals as defined above are actually born-again. In many nations only 10-40% of Evangelicals so defined may have had a valid conversion and also regularly attend church services. However, it does show how many people align themselves with churches where the gospel is being proclaimed.

Source: Operation World by Patrick Johnstone

The Global Status of Evangelical Christianity, developed by PeopleGroups.org, is a model that describes the progress of the Gospel among the peoples of the world by considering: 1. The extent to which a people group is Evangelical . 2. Accessibility to the Gospel. 3. Church planting activity, whether localized or widespread, within the past 2 years.

Source: PeopleGroups.org

The cooperative network of registry stewards and their combined information resources collected into the Harvest Information System database.

For official Harvest Information System (HIS) Registry data, codes and categories, please visit the Harvest Information System website.

Source: Harvest Information System

A measure of country development generated by the United Nations. HDI indicators are standardized and ranked against other countries values to generate an index between 0 and 1. The Human Development Index is based on three indicators:

1. Life Expectancy Index: Longevity, as measured by life expectancy at birth
2. Education Level Index: Educational attainment, as measured by a combination of adult literacy (two-thirds weight) and the combined gross primary, secondary and tertiary enrollment ratio (one-third weight)
3. Gross Domestic Product: Standard of living, as measured by real GDP per capita (PPP$).

Source: UN Human Development Report

Groupings of individuals entirely according to language spoken. One language group equals one ethnic group, using this method. This grouping of individuals is appropriate for language-based outreaches (literature distributions, radio, recordings, etc.) Also appropriate for church planting / discipleship in many cases, but not all cases. For the related article about how people groups are defined, click here.

Source: Joshua Project

A seven level church development progress scale used extensively in Central America.

1. Without knowledge of the Gospel - There is no known person who has heard the Gospel.
2. Knowledge of the Gospel - There is access to the Gospel but there are no converts to Christanity. There may or may not be missionary presence.
3. Some converts, but no church gathering - There are some converts to Christianity but they are not congregating. There may or may not be missionary presence. These peoples are considered unreached and require a cross-cultural missionary effort.
4. Church in birth - There is a small fellowship of believers that meets regularly.
5. Church in initial maturity - The church has at least 2 of the qualities that make a mature church (see #7 below)
6. Church in moderate maturity - The church has at least 4 of the qualities that make a mature church (see #7 below) These are still considered unreached because they are not fully maturity.
7. Mature Church - This people's church is considered reached, and has all of the following 5 qualities: * Self-reproducing * Self-governing * Self-sustaining * Culturally contextual * There exists a translation of the whole New Testament and some portions of the Old Testament.

Source: COMIMEX / COMIBAM

Within each Affinity Bloc are a number of more closely related peoples which, for strategic purposes, may be clustered together. These relationships are often based on a common identity of language and name but sometimes on the basis of culture, religion, economy, or dominance of one group over another.

Almost all People Clusters have total populations of over one million. It is likely that each People Cluster will need an international partnership of Christian churches and agencies for the effective evangelization of each constituent people group.

People Clusters are the second level of the hierarchical Ethnic Peoples tree and use the Joshua Project code PeopleID2 which is related to the Harvest Information System code ROP2.

See also:

• People Cluster listing
• Interactive Ethnic Peoples tree
• Johnstone Affinity Blocs and People Clusters article

Source: Patrick Johnstone

A significantly large sociological grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity with one another. "For evangelization purposes, a people group is the largest group within which the Gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance."

In many parts of the world lack of understandability serves as the main barrier and it is appropriate to define people group primarily by language with the possibility of sub-divisions based on dialect or cultural variations.

In other parts of the world, most notably in portions of South Asia, acceptance is a greater barrier than understandability. In these regions, caste, religious tradition, location, common histories and legends, plus language may be used to define the boundaries of each people group.

Joshua Project uses the terms "people", "people group" and "ethnic people" synonymously. However, others may distinguish between the terms.

People groups are the third level of the hierarchical Ethnic Peoples tree and use Harvest Information System code ROP3.

See also:

• People Group listing
• Interactive Ethnic Peoples tree
• What is a People Group?
• How Many Peoples are There?
• Why Use Caste to Define Peoples?
• A Comparison of People Group Lists

Source: 1982 Lausanne Committee Chicago meeting and Joshua Project.

This counts a people group for each country it lives in. For example, the Tatar live in approximately 21 countries primarily in Central Asia. They would be counted 21 times.

The total number of peoples-by-country is the most common answer to the question "How many people groups are there?" Global People group databases have traditionally been Peoples-by-Country lists.

Peoples-by-Country are the fourth level of the hierarchical Ethnic Peoples tree and use a combination of Harvest Information System people code ROP3 and country code ROG3.

See also:

• Peoples-by-Country profiles.
• Interactive Ethnic Peoples tree
• What is a People Group?
• How Many Peoples are There?
• Why Use Caste to Define Peoples?
• A Comparison of People Group Lists

Source: Joshua Project

Open Doors International ranking of persecution of Christians by country. The top 50 countries are ranked (1 = highest level of persecution) based on World Watch questionnaire. The questionnaire contains 49 questions covering various aspects of religious freedom, differentiating between the legal, official status of Christians and the actual situation.

Attention is paid to the role of the church in society and the current situation facing individual Christians. Factors that may obstruct the freedom of religion in a country are also taken into account.

The aim of the list is to paint a realistic picture of religious persecution in a country. A point value is assigned depending on how each question is answered. The total of points per country determines its position on the World Watch List. Areas without significant persecution do not have a ranking.

Source: Open Doors International

The religion with the greatest number of adherents in this people group. Usually more than half the people group follow this religion, but not always.

See also:

• Religions listing
• All Religions listing
• Country religion percentages

Source: Joshua Project

The Joshua Project Progress Scale provides an estimate of the progress of church planting among a people group, people cluster or country. Clicking the color blocks    anywhere on this website will bring up a popup window with Progress Scale definitions.

The Progress Scale is derived from a comparison and integration of number of indicators including Percent Evangelical, Percent Christian Adherent, Patrick Johnstone Church Planting Indicator (CPI), Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC) Indicator, Morelia Scale, World Christian Encyclopedia World A-B-C classification and other progress indicators.

There are instances where the above progress indicators are inconsistent with one another. In these cases the Joshua Project scale takes a middle ground approach. We value any input to reconcile conflicting reports about current status.

For a global summary of people groups at each of the Joshua Project Scale levels, click here. For a listing of people groups at each of the Joshua Project Scale levels, click here.

Source: Joshua Project

These are codes for peoples, geographic places and languages that allow key missions information to flow between various sources. Each kind of information is classified in a "registry" and then there are several hierarchical levels with each registry.

Registry of Peoples (ROP)
Click for a interactive Ethnic Peoples tree

    ROP1 = Affinity Blocs code [Example: A007]
    ROP2 = People Clusters code [Example: C0216]
    ROP3 = People Group code [Example: 110033]

Note: In 2010, Joshua Project began using the following for people coding and web linking:

    PeopleID1 = Affinity Blocs code [Example: 11]
    PeopleID2 = People Clusters code [Example: 137]
    PeopleID3 = People Group code [Example: 10044]

Registry of Geographic Places (ROG)
Click for a interactive Geographic Places tree

    ROG2 = Regions / Continent code [Example: 3]
    ROG3 = Country code [Example: CH]
    ROG4 = First Admin / Province code [Ex: CH14]

Registry of Languages (ROL)

    ROL3 = Language code [Example: rus]
    ROL4 = Dialect code [Example: cmn07]

Standardized versions of certain codes are available from the Harvest Information System website.

Joshua Project uses the terms "unreached" and "least-reached" to mean the same thing. The terms are used interchangably on this website.

An unreached or least-reached people is a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group.

The original Joshua Project editorial committee selected the criteria less than 2% Evangelical Christian and less than 5% Christian Adherents. While these percentage figures are somewhat arbitrary, there are some that suggest that the percentage of a population needed to be influenced to impact the whole group is 2%. (See comments in Christianity Today Nov 2003 issue, search for the phrase "2 percent".)

Click here for listing of 100 Largest Unreached People Groups and other least-reached peoples queries.

Note: For cases where % Evangelical and % Adherents data is unavailable for a people group, Joshua Project makes an estimate regarding the unreached status of a people based on the country of location. Countries have been divided into two categories:

1. those with high likelihood of people groups in these countries being unreached / least-reached
2. those with significant Christian presence and low likelihood of people groups in these countries being unreached / least-reached.

The classification of countries is based on a country's percent Evangelical, persecution rankings, primary religion, geographic location and security level. Where there are data gaps, Joshua Project is eager to update our unreached / least-reached status estimates with hard data. We welcome your feedback.

Source: 1982 Lausanne Committee Chicago meeting, AD2000 & Beyond Movement and Joshua Project.

A term developed to designated people groups that do not have any active church planting occuring. According to the IMB Global Research Office "A people group is engaged when a church planting strategy, consistent with Evangelical faith and practice, is under implementation.

In this respect, a people group is not engaged when it has been merely adopted, is the object of focused prayer, or is part of an advocacy strategy." At least four essential elements constitute effective engagement:

1. apostolic effort in residence;
2. commitment to work in the local language and culture;
3. commitment to long-term ministry;
4. sowing in a manner consistent with the goal of seeing a church-planting movement (CPM) emerge

For a Mission Frontiers article regarding people group engagement, click here.

Source: IMB Global Research Office