Sri Lanka people groups, languages and religions

Country: Sri Lanka South Asia Peoples website

Number of People Groups

149

People Groups Unreached

64 (43.0%)

Progress Level

The Joshua Project Progress Scale is an estimate of the progress of church planting among a people group, people cluster, country or language. The Progress Scale is derived from people group values for percent Evangelical and percent Christian Adherent.

Level	Description	Criteria
1	Unreached - Few evangelicals and few who identify as Christians. Little, if any, history of Christianity.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians <= 5%
2	Minimally reached - Few evangelicals, but significant number who identify as Christians.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians > 5% and <= 50%
3	Superficially reached - Few evangelicals, but many who identify as Christians. In great need of spiritual renewal and commitment to biblical faith.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians > 50%
4	Partially reached - Evangelicals have a modest presence.	Evangelicals > 2% and <= 10%
5	Significantly reached - Evangelicals have a significant presence.	Evangelicals > 10%

Total
Population

21,738,000

Population in Unreached

3,197,000 (14.7%)

Largest Religion

Buddhism (70.1%)

% Christian Adherent *

7.67%

% Evangelical

Unknown

Evangelical Annual Growth Rate

2.3%

(Global Rate = 2.6%)

* From latest Sri Lanka census data. Current values may differ.

Map Notes

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼

Progress Scale: ●●●●●
☀
= Frontier peoples
People Group	Population this Country	Global Population	Indigenous	Primary Language	Primary Religion	Progress Scale	% Christian Adherent *	% Evangelical	Est. Workers Needed *
Adi Andhra	800	364,000	●	Telugu	Hinduism	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Agamudaiyan Nattaman	8,900	791,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2 ●	14.65 %	-1	-1 -
Agamudaiyan unspecified	9,400	267,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2 ●	13.59 %	-1	-1 -
Ahinkuntaya	62,000	62,000	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	2 ●	6.52 %	-1	-1 -
Ambalavasi	16,000	204,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2 ●	14.98 %	-1	-1 -
Ambattan	16,000	16,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2 ●	14.49 %	-1	-1 -
Ansari	1,100	17,670,000	●	Urdu	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Arab	5,400	755,000		Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Badahala	117,000	117,000	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	2 ●	7.52 %	-1	-1 -
Bangali Muslim Moghal	1,200	3,479,000	●	Urdu	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Bania Chetti	6,500	874,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Bania unspecified	9,800	17,170,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Batgama	390,000	390,000	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	1 ●	1.48 %	-1	8
Berava	381,000	381,000	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	2 ●	6.56 %	-1	-1 -
Bharathar (Christian traditions)	1,500	48,000	●	Tamil	Christianity	3 ●	100.00 %	-1	-1 -
Bharathar (Hindu traditions)	400	15,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Bintanna	7,000	7,000	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	2 ●	5.05 %	-1	-1 -
Bodhivansha	15,000	15,000	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	2 ●	6.02 %	-1	-1 -
Bohra	2,000	1,320,000	●	Gujarati	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Boya	17,000	4,824,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2 ●	14.00 %	-1	-1 -
Brahmin Indian Tamil	32,000	32,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	1 ●	0.45 %	-1	1
Brahmin unspecified	4,400	34,839,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	1 ●	0.22 %	-1	1
Burgher	47,000	47,000	●	Sinhala	Christianity	3 ●	87.06 %	-1	-1 -
Chakkiliyan (Christian traditions)	5,000	145,000	●	Tamil	Christianity	3 ●	100.00 %	-1	-1 -
Chakkiliyan (Hindu traditions)	28,000	1,047,000	●	Tamil	Hinduism	1 ●	0.12 %	-1	1
Totals: 149	21,738,000					64 ●	7.67 %	0.00 %	107
Unclassified / Other Individuals	156,000
UN Country Population (2023)	21,894,000

Other minor groups: 48

Sri Lanka

Very small groups reported, but outside the Joshua Project Small Group Policy. Some may not be viable and/or have incorrect Progress Scale values, population, language and religion information. The groups listed below are not included in overall Joshua Project people group counts. If you have information about these groups, please contact us.

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
People Group ▲	Progress Scale	Population	Primary Language	Primary Religion
Ahmadi	1 ●	100	Urdu	Islam
Arain (Muslim traditions)	1 ●	600	Punjabi, Western	Islam
Arayan	2 ●	900	Malayalam	Hinduism
Arora (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	500	Punjabi, Eastern	Hinduism
Bagdi (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	500	Bengali	Hinduism
Bairagi (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	400	Bengali	Hinduism
Baloch	1 ●	900	Urdu	Islam
Banjara (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	800	Hindi	Hinduism
Bauri	1 ●	300	Bengali	Hinduism
Darzi (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	200	Hindi	Hinduism
Gujar (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	300	Punjabi, Eastern	Hinduism
Gujar (Muslim traditions)	1 ●	200	Punjabi, Eastern	Islam
Jat (Sikh traditions)	1 ●	400	Punjabi, Eastern	Other / Small
Jogi (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	500	Bengali	Hinduism
Kadaiyar	2 ●	1,000	Tamil	Hinduism
Kayastha (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	300	Bengali	Hinduism
Khatri (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	300	Punjabi, Eastern	Hinduism
Koli (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	100	Gujarati	Hinduism
Kumhar (Hindu traditions)	2 ●	500	Tamil	Hinduism
Kunbi (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	400	Hindi	Hinduism
Kuravan (Christian traditions)	3 ●	500	Tamil	Christianity
Kurmi (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	400	Bengali	Hinduism
Lohar (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	900	Hindi	Hinduism
Madappalli	2 ●	800	Tamil	Hinduism
Madari (Muslim traditions)	1 ●	500	Urdu	Islam
Madiga (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	300	Telugu	Hinduism
Mahishya	1 ●	600	Bengali	Hinduism
Mahratta	1 ●	300	Marathi	Hinduism
Mala (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	300	Telugu	Hinduism
Malabar Catholic	3 ●	300	Malayalam	Christianity
Malayali	2 ●	800	Malayalam	Hinduism
Mangala	1 ●	700	Telugu	Hinduism
Namassej (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	600	Bengali	Hinduism
Parsee	1 ●	700	Gujarati	Other / Small
Persian	1 ●	100	Persian, Iranian	Islam
Pinjara	1 ●	200	Urdu	Islam
Pod	1 ●	200	Bengali	Hinduism
Rajbansi (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	200	Bengali	Hinduism
Rajput (Sikh traditions)	1 ●	200	Hindi	Other / Small
Siviyar	2 ●	500	Tamil	Hinduism
Somalia	1 ●	100	Somali	Islam
Syrian Christian	3 ●	700	Malayalam	Christianity
Tanti (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	300	Bengali	Hinduism
Thurumber	2 ●	1,000	Tamil	Hinduism
Tili	1 ●	200	Bengali	Hinduism
Vaddar (Hindu traditions)	1 ●	200	Telugu	Hinduism
Vedda	2 ●	300	Sinhala	Christianity
Velakkithalanayan	2 ●	700	Malayalam	Hinduism
Totals: 48

For more information see the Joshua Project Small Group Policy

* An estimate of the number of pioneer workers needed for initial church planting among unreached people groups by country. Estimates are calculated only for unreached people groups and are based on ratio of 1 worker-unit (single person or married couple) per 50,000 living in an unreached people group by country, or for example one team of four worker-units per 200,000 people. Some workers may already be onsite. Many more workers are needed beyond this initial estimate.

Download Data Data Sources Definitions

Prayer Cards

Meet a Laborer

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Province ▲	Population	People Groups	Unreached Groups	% Unreached Peoples	Population in Unreached	% Population Unreached	Districts
Central	2,737,000	139	60	43.2 %	683,000	25.0 %	3
Eastern	1,658,000	119	44	37.0 %	656,000	39.6 %	3
North Central	1,349,000	88	35	39.8 %	175,000	13.0 %	2
North Western	2,537,000	111	45	40.5 %	415,000	16.4 %	2
Northern	1,157,000	91	36	39.6 %	105,000	9.1 %	5
Sabaragamuwa	2,061,000	130	56	43.1 %	291,000	14.1 %	2
Southern	2,644,000	120	44	36.7 %	106,000	4.0 %	3
Uva	1,360,000	126	52	41.3 %	225,000	16.5 %	2
Western	6,237,000	138	55	39.9 %	646,000	10.4 %	3
Country:	21,738,000	149	64	43.0 %	3,197,000	14.7 %	25

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Language ▲	Code	# Peoples w/ this Primary Language	# Unreached w/ this Primary Language	Scripture Status	YouVersion Bible Resources	Faith Comes By Hearing Bible Resources	Jesus Film Online	Global Recordings Resources	Gospel Tract Online
Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken	acm	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	1
Gujarati	guj	2	2	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Hindi	hin	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Japanese	jpn	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Javanese	jav	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Konkani	knn	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	-1	1	1	1
Malayalam	mal	2	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Maldivian	div	1	1	3 Bible Portions	1	1	1	1	-1
Morisyen	mfe	1	0	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	-1
Punjabi, Eastern	pan	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Punjabi, Western	pnb	2	2	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	1
Sindhi	snd	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Sinhala	sin	45	16	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Sri Lankan Malay Creole	sci	1	1	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Sri Lankan Sign Language	sqs	1	0	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Tamil	tam	81	30	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Telugu	tel	3	3	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Unknown	xxx	1	0	Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Urdu	urd	2	2	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Totals:	19	149	64		14	15	16	16	13

Networking Possibilities

MissionNext - connect with mission agencies or schools worldwide
The Mission App - connecting you to mission agencies that match your calling
Linking Global Voices - networks and global collaboration for followers of Christ
visionSynergy - developing high impact missional networks
GetInvolved - frontier people group (FPGs) prayer communities

Search the Web
There are many agencies and churches looking for additional staff to help them in their mission and calling in Sri Lanka. Internet searches are probably the best way to find these organizations. The following are some example search topics you might try:

Church planting agencies in Sri Lanka
Christian ministry in Sri Lanka
Business as mission
Christian literature distribution
Evangelism agencies
Christian discipleship
Short term Christian missions

Long term Christian missions
Urban ministries
Christian media opportunities
Bible translation opportunities
Relief and development agencies
Clean water projects
Christian medical outreaches

Sri Lanka Statistics
People Groups	149
Unreached People Groups	64 (43.0%)
Population	21,738,000
Population Annual Growth Rate	0.5%
Population in Unreached	3,197,000 (14.7%)
Primary Religion	Buddhism
Percent Christian Adherent	7.7%
Percent Evangelical	Unknown
Evangelical Annual Growth Rate	2.3%
Pioneer Workers Needed *	107
Country Progress Level	2 ●
Urbanization	19%
Continent	Asia
Region	Asia, South
10/40 Window	Yes
Country Code	CE
Official Language(s)	Sinhala \| English
Literacy Rate	95%
Estimated Illiterate Population	1,087,000
Persecution Ranking	Not ranked

Sri Lanka Prayer Cards / Guide
Prayer Cards All Unreached	Prayer Guide

Sri Lanka Links
Operation World
Stratus Earth Index
Prosperity Index
Social Progress Index
World Factbook
Religious Freedom Report
UN Human Development Report
Ethnologue Language Listing
National Bible Society

Sri Lanka Maps
Political Map (UN)
Language Map (Ethnologue)
Perry-Castaneda Map Collection

Sri Lanka Videos
Sri Lanka Prayercast Video