Interesting Facts

Key observations from people group data
South Asia has more than five times as many unreached people groups (3,662) as any other region of the world.
Only 70 people groups comprise 50% of the world's population.
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%.
The Muslim Shaikh have a combined population of over 214,000,000 (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal).
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 25th Edition of the Ethnologue indicates there are 7,151 living languages in the world, with roughly 40% in danger of not surviving. 23 languages account for more than half the world's population.
The largest Least-Reached group in Central Asia without Scripture, Jesus film, or audio recordings is the Aimaq of Afghanistan, with 1,670,000 people.
Of the 7,600 groups whose populations are under 10,000, the total number of individuals is less than 24,000,000.
430 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.
There are 814 Hindu majority people groups over 100,000 in size.
Of India's 2,373 people groups, 1,681 have populations over 10,000, the largest being a Muslim group, the Shaikh at 71,108,500
The largest Muslim people group is the Bengali Muslim Shaikh of Bangladesh, population 130,000,000.
South Asia has the most Frontier people groups (3,149), followed by Northest Asia (286). Australia and Pacific has the fewest at 20.
11.4% of the world's population (878m 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.
Indonesia has the most people groups (430) whose primary language does not have Bible portions, totaling 6,720,000 individuals.
11,807 people groups have at least the New Testament available in their primary language, totaling 7,144,000,000 individuals.
3,149 people groups in South Asia are Frontier, totaling 1,410,000,000 individuals.
The four largest Least-Reached people groups are the Bengali Muslim Shaikh of Bangladesh, Japanese of Japan, the Shaikh of India, and the Turks of Turkey.
The Mandarin Chinese have a combined population of over 940,000,000 (all countries of residence).
2,180 people groups reside in more than one country, summing to 6,621,000,000 individuals.
The unreached Parsee, found in 11 countries with over 168,000 in total, practice Zoroastrianism.
Over 30% (2.4 billion individuals) of the earth's population reside in only 250 Least-Reached people groups.
10 of Sudan's 162 people groups have Christianity as their primary religion, and 138 have Islam as their primary religion.
The Gond people of India speak 110 languages, and the Rajput speak 96.
There are 1,304 Christian majority people groups over 100,000 in size.
All but one group of Sri Lanka's 161 people groups have at least Bible portions available in its primary language.
Indonesia has the greatest population of Muslim groups (246,000,000), followed by Pakistan (223,000,000) and India (190,000,000).
Seven countries have more than 500 people groups, with India exceeding 2350.
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)
Nigeria has 285 people groups (8,208,000 individuals) whose primary language does not have Bible portions available.
Some 65-70% of the world's population live in religiously restrictive countries.
Central Asia has only 993,000 evangelicals, followed by North Africa and Middle East (5,620,000) and Eastern Europe and Eurasia (6,383,000).
It has been estimated there are 460,000 villages (out of a total of 650,000 villages) in India with no known Christian presence.
France has 32 Muslim people groups, the largest of which is the Kabyle Berbers, with 718,000 people.
11,537 people groups have the Jesus Film in their primary language, totaling 7,378,000,000 individuals.
The largest Hindu group is the Chamar of India, population 54,000,000.
Papua New Guinea has the largest number of groups whose primary religion is Christianity (804), followed by the United States with 377.
There are five Least-Reached people groups each over 50,000,000 in population, the largest being the Bengali Muslim Shaikh of Bangladesh (130,000,000).
East and Southern Africa is the least urbanized (31%) region of the world. (World Factbook 2011)
India has 2,135 least-reached groups, followed by Pakistan (828), and China (443).
North America and the Caribbean have the most Evangelicals (100,500,000), followed by East and Southern Africa (100,100,000). (Operation World 2010)
The largest Least-Reached group in Northeast Asia without Scripture, Jesus film, or audio recordings is the Western Ghao-Xong of China, with 1,418,000 people.
South Asia has the most people groups (4,033), followed by West and Central Africa (2,215), and Central Asia has the least (547).
Nearly 1/4 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 top 10 countries with the largest Christian populations include all of the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). (Operation World 2010)
The Nai of India have 93 alternate names, and the Kalal have 86 alternate names.
Iran is the country with the fastest growing Evangelical population at 19.6% annual growth. (Operation World 2010).
Of Iran's 94 people groups, all but 10 are least-reached, and all of these 10 are expatriate groups.
The United States has the largest population of groups whose primary religion is Christianity (310,000,000), followed by Brazil (213,000,000).
There are 135 Buddhist majority people groups over 100,000 in size.
2,085 people groups totaling 146,000,000 individuals have neither Scripture, the Jesus film, or Christian recordings available in their primary language.
The Mumbai district of Maharashtra state in India has over 10,000,000 residents, more than many countries of the world.
The largest group without even Scripture portions in their primary language is the Jin Chinese of China, population 48,000,000.
The largest Least-Reached group in the Middle East / North Africa without Scripture, Jesus film, or audio recordings are the Omani Arabs of Oman, with 2,255,000 people.
23 of the 70 people groups in Afghanistan do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language.
The world's population will be 68% urban by the year 2050 (United Nations).
Of Nigeria's 538 people groups, 99 do not have Bible portions, the Jesus film, or gospel recordings available in their primary language, or 1,883,000 individuals.
There are 1120 Muslim majority people groups over 100,000 in size.
More than 1960 church planting movements have been reported in the world at present, 2022.
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 global annual growth rate of Christianity in general is 1.2%, but the growth rate of Evangelicals is 2.6% (Operation World 2010)
Russia has 69 Muslim people groups, the largest of which is the Tatars, with 5,411,000 people.
Hindi is spoken as the primary language by 629 people groups, with English spoken by 535 and Bengali spoken by 387.
Pakistan has the largest number of groups whose primary religion is Islam (687), followed by India with 392 and Indonesia with 252.
China has the largest number of individuals whose primary language does not have Bible portions (94,772,000 individuals).
The largest people cluster is the Chinese (1,373,000,000), followed by the Hispanic (365,000,000).
1,882 people groups in the 10/40 Window have neither Scripture portions or the Jesus film available in their primary language, comprising 227,000,000 individuals.
The median population of all people groups for which Joshua Project has population values is 14,922. The mean population is 454,292.
There are 1,376 primarily Christian groups in the 10/40 Window, the largest being the Yoruba of Nigeria (36,163,000).
383 people groups in Central Asia are least-reached, totaling 290,000,000 individuals.
The largest Least-Reached group in Southeast Asia without Scripture, Jesus film, or audio recordings is the West Coast Bajau of Malaysia, with 250,000 people.
Census data indicates there are some 24,000,000 Sikhs and 6,174,000 Jains in India.
268 of the 545 people groups in China do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language.
If the India state of Uttar Pradesh were a country, it would be the 5th most populous in the world. (Operation World 2010).
3,334,000,000 individuals live in people groups (7,414) with very few, if any, believers.
2,115 people groups in the world do not have Scripture portions or audio recordings available in their primary language, comprising 153,000,000 individuals.

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