Ukraine people groups, languages and religions

Country: Ukraine

Number of People Groups

People Groups Unreached

29 (36.3%)

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

39,613,000

Population in Unreached

418,000 (1.1%)

Largest Religion

Christianity (72.6%)

% Christian Adherent

72.62%

% Evangelical

3.63%

Evangelical Annual Growth Rate

3.1%

(Global Rate = 2.6%)

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 *
Abkhaz	1,300	306,000		Abkhaz	Non-Religious	2 ●	20.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Adyghe	500	717,000		Adyghe	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Afghan, Tajik	1,000	11,717,000		Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Albanian	2,700	5,072,000		Albanian, Gheg	Islam	2 ●	15.00 %	0.50 %	-1 -
Americans, U.S.	600	195,885,000		English	Christianity	5 ●	82.00 %	28.90 %	-1 -
Arab, Uzbeki	5,400	23,000		Arabic, Uzbeki Spoken	Islam	2 ●	10.00 %	0.50 %	-1 -
Armenian	81,000	5,946,000		Armenian, Western	Christianity	4 ●	94.00 %	8.70 %	-1 -
Assyrian	2,600	949,000		Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	Christianity	3 ●	87.00 %	2.00 %	-1 -
Avar	1,200	894,000		Avar	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Azerbaijani	37,000	9,141,000		Azerbaijani, North	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Bashkir	3,500	1,698,000		Bashkort	Islam	1 ●	3.00 %	0.50 %	1
Belarusian	225,000	9,460,000		Belarusian	Christianity	3 ●	71.00 %	1.40 %	-1 -
Bulgarian	167,000	6,854,000		Bulgarian	Christianity	3 ●	80.00 %	1.90 %	-1 -
Chechen	2,300	1,719,000		Chechen	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Chinese, general	2,200	15,816,000		Chinese, Mandarin	Non-Religious	4 ●	7.00 %	5.00 %	-1 -
Chuvash	8,600	1,497,000		Chuvash	Christianity	2 ●	35.00 %	2.00 %	-1 -
Czech	4,800	10,665,000		Czech	Non-Religious	2 ●	26.00 %	0.70 %	-1 -
Dargin	1,300	457,000		Dargwa	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Deaf	199,000	49,091,000	●	Ukrainian Sign Language	Christianity	3 ●	79.01 %	-1	-1 -
Eskimo, Siberian	100	5,100		Yupik, Saint Lawrence Island	Ethnic Religions	2 ●	16.00 %	0.80 %	-1 -
Estonian	2,300	1,132,000		Estonian, Standard	Non-Religious	4 ●	45.00 %	4.90 %	-1 -
Finnish	600	5,681,000		Finnish	Christianity	5 ●	84.00 %	12.10 %	-1 -
Gagauz	26,000	152,000		Gagauz	Christianity	3 ●	75.00 %	2.00 %	-1 -
Georgian	28,000	3,164,000		Georgian	Christianity	3 ●	76.00 %	1.70 %	-1 -
German	27,000	66,222,000		German, Standard	Christianity	4 ●	64.00 %	2.10 %	-1 -
Gilyak, Nivkh	500	5,200		Gilyak	Ethnic Religions	2 ●	6.00 %	0.50 %	-1 -
Greek	75,000	10,511,000		Urum	Christianity	3 ●	90.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Han Chinese, Mandarin	1,800	925,767,000		Chinese, Mandarin	Non-Religious	4 ●	8.00 %	5.70 %	-1 -
Hungarian	128,000	12,013,000		Hungarian	Christianity	4 ●	88.00 %	2.80 %	-1 -
Izhor, Ingrian	700	1,000	●	Ukrainian	Christianity	3 ●	74.00 %	0.80 %	-1 -
Jew, Ukrainian	183,000	794,000		Yiddish, Eastern	Ethnic Religions	4 ●	4.70 %	4.00 %	-1 -
Karaite	1,100	1,800	●	Karaim	Ethnic Religions	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Karelian	1,200	76,000		Karelian	Christianity	3 ●	69.00 %	1.50 %	-1 -
Kazakh	4,500	17,864,000		Kazakh	Islam	1 ●	0.20 %	0.04 %	1
Komi-Permyat	900	99,000		Komi-Permyak	Christianity	2 ●	40.00 %	0.50 %	-1 -
Komi-Zyrian	1,000	233,000		Komi-Zyrian	Non-Religious	2 ●	33.00 %	0.50 %	-1 -
Korean	10,000	81,880,000		Korean	Non-Religious	5 ●	31.00 %	16.80 %	-1 -
Krymchaks	1,500	1,500	●	Ukrainian	Ethnic Religions	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Kumyk	600	512,000		Kumyk	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Kurd, Kurmanji	1,700	16,404,000		Kurdish, Northern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Kyrgyz	900	5,840,000		Kyrgyz	Islam	1 ●	5.00 %	0.70 %	1
Lak	800	176,000		Lak	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Latvian	4,100	1,421,000		Latvian, Standard	Christianity	4 ●	60.00 %	7.00 %	-1 -
Lezgin	3,500	830,000		Lezgi	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Lithuanian	5,900	2,843,000		Lithuanian	Christianity	3 ●	85.00 %	1.10 %	-1 -
Moldovans	211,000	3,205,000		Romanian	Christianity	4 ●	73.00 %	3.70 %	-1 -
Mordvinian	7,600	106,000		Erzya	Christianity	3 ●	61.00 %	2.00 %	-1 -
Orochi	800	1,400		Oroch	Ethnic Religions	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Orok	900	1,200	●	Orok	Ethnic Religions	1 ●	4.00 %	0.50 %	1
Ossette	3,900	588,000		Ossetic	Christianity	4 ●	46.00 %	3.00 %	-1 -
Pashtun, Southern	800	4,902,000		Pashto, Southern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Polish	118,000	44,326,000		Polish	Christianity	3 ●	90.00 %	0.30 %	-1 -
Romani, Balkan	547,000	1,164,000		Romani, Balkan	Christianity	3 ●	70.00 %	0.90 %	-1 -
Romani, Baltic	1,700	32,000		Romani, Baltic	Christianity	4 ●	65.00 %	3.00 %	-1 -
Romani, Carpathian	39,000	215,000	●	Romani, Carpathian	Christianity	3 ●	80.00 %	2.00 %	-1 -
Romani, Vlax	8,000	1,151,000	●	Romani, Vlax	Christianity	4 ●	70.00 %	3.00 %	-1 -
Romanian	123,000	21,453,000		Romanian	Christianity	4 ●	97.00 %	5.40 %	-1 -
Russian	6,706,000	134,114,000		Russian	Christianity	4 ●	67.00 %	2.43 %	-1 -
Ruthenian, Rusyn	8,400	84,000	●	Rusyn	Christianity	4 ●	85.00 %	3.70 %	-1 -
Saami, Kildin	100	500		Saami, Kildin	Christianity	4 ●	65.00 %	3.00 %	-1 -
Serb	500	8,614,000		Serbian	Christianity	3 ●	80.00 %	0.60 %	-1 -
Slovak	5,200	5,228,000		Slovak	Christianity	3 ●	93.00 %	1.20 %	-1 -
South Asian, general	8,100	12,066,000		Hindi	Hinduism	4 ●	4.00 %	2.50 %	-1 -
Spaniard	800	29,958,000		Spanish	Christianity	3 ●	77.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Tabasaran	800	152,000		Tabasaran	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Tajik	3,500	10,439,000		Tajik	Islam	1 ●	1.00 %	0.10 %	1
Tatar	60,000	6,377,000	●	Tatar	Islam	1 ●	1.50 %	0.20 %	1
Tatar, Crimean	265,000	589,000	●	Crimean Tatar	Islam	1 ●	0.12 %	0.10 %	5
Thai	3,500	24,196,000		Thai	Buddhism	1 ●	2.00 %	1.00 %	1
Turk	3,200	66,709,000		Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Turk, Meskhetian	3,200	306,000		Ukrainian	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Turkmen	3,000	8,551,000		Turkmen	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Udin	500	14,000		Udi	Christianity	3 ●	86.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Udmurt	3,800	577,000		Udmurt	Christianity	3 ●	55.00 %	0.10 %	-1 -
Ukrainian	30,205,000	34,779,000	●	Ukrainian	Christianity	4 ●	75.00 %	4.05 %	-1 -
Uzbek, Northern	10,000	31,980,000		Uzbek, Northern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Vepsian	200	8,600		Veps	Christianity	3 ●	65.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Vietnamese	3,100	85,785,000		Vietnamese	Buddhism	2 ●	9.00 %	1.80 %	-1 -
Yazidi	1,800	782,000		Kurdish, Northern	Ethnic Religions	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Yukaghir, Chuvan	200	2,300		Ukrainian	Ethnic Religions	1 ●	5.00 %	0.00 %	1
Totals: 80	39,613,000					29 ●	72.62 %	3.63 %	33
Unclassified / Other Individuals	89,000
UN Country Population (2022)	39,702,000

Other minor groups: 23

Ukraine

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
Abaza	1 ●	100	Abaza	Islam
Aghul	1 ●	-1 Unknown	Aghul	Islam
Austrian, Bavarian	2 ●	100	Bavarian	Christianity
Balkar	1 ●	200	Karachay-Balkar	Islam
British	4 ●	100	English	Christianity
Buriat	3 ●	400	Buriat, Russia	Buddhism
Croat	2 ●	100	Croatian	Christianity
Cuban	2 ●	200	Spanish	Christianity
Dungan	1 ●	100	Dungan	Islam
Even, Lamut	1 ●	-1 Unknown	Even	Ethnic Religions
French	2 ●	200	French	Christianity
Ingush, Galgai	1 ●	400	Ingush	Islam
Italian	2 ●	400	Italian	Christianity
Kabardian	1 ●	400	Kabardian	Islam
Kalmyk-Oirat	1 ●	300	Kalmyk-Oirat	Buddhism
Karachai	1 ●	200	Karachay-Balkar	Islam
Nogai	1 ●	400	Nogai	Islam
Persian	1 ●	400	Persian, Iranian	Islam
Swedish	2 ●	200	Swedish	Christianity
Talysh, Talish	1 ●	100	Talysh	Islam
Tatar, Khakass, Yenisei	3 ●	200	Khakas	Ethnic Religions
Uyghur	1 ●	200	Uyghur	Islam
Yakut	3 ●	300	Yakut	Ethnic Religions
Totals: 23

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.

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Prayer Cards

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Province ▲	Estimated Population
Cherkasy	1,241,000
Chernihiv	1,101,000
Chernivtsi	816,000
Crimea	1,799,000
Dnipropetrovs'k	3,156,000
Donets'k	4,282,000
Ivano-Frankivs'k	1,247,000
Kharkiv	2,577,000
Kherson	1,039,000
Khmel'nyts'kyy	1,266,000
Kiev	1,617,000
Kiev City	2,309,000
Kirovohrad	1,002,000
L'viv	2,324,000
Luhans'k	2,252,000
Mykolayiv	1,119,000
Odessa	2,184,000
Poltava	1,442,000
Rivne	1,037,000
Sevastopol'	335,000
Sumy	1,150,000
Ternopil'	1,010,000
Transcarpathia	1,114,000
Vinnytsya	1,567,000
Volyn	938,000
Zaporizhzhya	1,706,000
Zhytomyr	1,229,000
Provinces: 27	42,859,000
UN Country Population	39,702,000

Ukraine Prayer Cards
	Ukraine prayer cards. All Unreached

Ukraine Links
Operation World
World Factbook
Religious Freedom Report
UN Human Development Report
Ethnologue Language Listing
National Bible Society

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

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Language ▲	Code	# Peoples w/ this Primary Language	# Unreached w/ this Primary Language	Scripture Status	NT Text Online	NT Audio Online	Jesus Film Online	Audio Recordings Online	Gospel Tract Online
Abkhaz	abk	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	-1	-1
Adyghe	ady	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	1
Albanian, Gheg	aln	1	0	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	1
Arabic, Uzbeki Spoken	auz	1	0	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	1
Armenian, Western	hyw	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	-1
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	aii	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Avar	ava	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	1
Azerbaijani, North	azj	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Bashkort	bak	1	1	4 New Testament	1	1	1	-1	-1
Belarusian	bel	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Bulgarian	bul	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Chechen	che	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Chinese, Mandarin	cmn	2	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Chuvash	chv	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	-1	-1
Crimean Tatar	crh	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Czech	ces	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Dargwa	dar	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Dari	prs	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
English	eng	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Erzya	myv	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Estonian, Standard	ekk	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	-1	1
Finnish	fin	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Gagauz	gag	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Georgian	kat	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
German, Standard	deu	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Gilyak	niv	1	0	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Hindi	hin	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Hungarian	hun	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Karaim	kdr	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Karelian	krl	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Kazakh	kaz	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Komi-Permyak	koi	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Komi-Zyrian	kpv	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Korean	kor	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Kumyk	kum	1	1	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	1
Kurdish, Northern	kmr	2	2	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Kyrgyz	kir	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Lak	lbe	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Latvian, Standard	lvs	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Lezgi	lez	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	-1
Lithuanian	lit	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Oroch	oac	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Orok	oaa	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Ossetic	oss	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	-1
Pashto, Southern	pbt	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	1	1	1	-1
Polish	pol	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Romani, Balkan	rmn	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	-1
Romani, Baltic	rml	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	-1	1	-1
Romani, Carpathian	rmc	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Romani, Vlax	rmy	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Romanian	ron	2	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Russian	rus	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Rusyn	rue	1	0	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Saami, Kildin	sjd	1	0	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Serbian	srp	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Slovak	slk	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Spanish	spa	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Tabasaran	tab	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	-1
Tajik	tgk	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Tatar	tat	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Thai	tha	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Turkish	tur	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Turkmen	tuk	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Udi	udi	1	0	0 Unspecified	-1	1	-1	-1	-1
Udmurt	udm	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Ukrainian	ukr	5	3	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Ukrainian Sign Language	ukl	1	0	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	-1	-1
Urum	uum	1	0	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Uzbek, Northern	uzn	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Veps	vep	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Vietnamese	vie	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Yiddish, Eastern	ydd	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Yupik, Saint Lawrence Island	ess	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	1	-1	1	-1
Totals:	73	80	29		39	59	61	52	37

Networking Possibilities

MissionNext - connect with mission agencies or schools worldwide
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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 Ukraine. 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 Ukraine
Christian ministry in Ukraine
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

Ukraine Statistics
People Groups	80
Unreached People Groups	29 (36.3%)
Population	39,613,000
Population Annual Growth Rate	-0.5%
Population in Unreached	418,000 (1.1%)
Primary Religion	Christianity
Percent Christian Adherent	72.6%
Percent Evangelical	3.6%
Evangelical Annual Growth Rate	3.1%
Pioneer Workers Needed *	33
Country Progress Level	4 ●
Urbanization	69%
Continent	Europe
Region	Europe, Eastern and Eurasia
10/40 Window	No
Country Code	UP
Official Language(s)	Ukrainian \| Russian
Literacy Rate	99%
Estimated Illiterate Population	396,000
Persecution Ranking	Not ranked

Ukraine Prayer Cards / Guide
Prayer Cards All Unreached	Prayer Guide

Ukraine 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

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

Ukraine Videos
Ukraine Prayercast Video