Unreached people groups
An overview of the country's people groups, focusing on those who still have little or no access to the gospel in their own language and culture.
Türkiye has at least 85 ethnic groups, and 61 of them (71.8% of the total) are still considered unreached by the gospel. Together, these 61 ethnicities add up to about 86.8 million people, meaning 99.2% of the country's population lives in groups that still have no Christian community of their own capable of reaching them. The largest of these groups is the Turks themselves, with fewer than 1 in every 1,000 people identified as Christian of any kind. The country is also home to Kurds, Syrian Arabs, Afghans, and other minorities, many of them refugees from neighboring wars, forming one of the largest unreached mission fields in the world within the borders of a single country.
- 86.8M Unreached 99.2%
- 116K Minimally reached 0.1%
- 282K Superficially reached 0.3%
- 292K Partially reached 0.3%
- 13K Significantly reached 0%
- 61 Unreached 71.8%
- 2 Minimally reached 2.4%
- 11 Superficially reached 12.9%
- 10 Partially reached 11.8%
- 1 Significantly reached 1.2%
Source of people group data: Joshua Project (joshuaproject.net). Estimates, may vary.
Source: Joshua Project. Estimates, may vary.
| People | Population | Language | Evang. | Chr. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karachay Frontier | 489K | Karachay-Balkar | 0% | 0% |
| Albanian | 5.8M | Gheg Albanian | 0.5% | 24.3% |
| Ladino Frontier | 57K | Ladino | 0% | 0% |
| Turkmen Frontier | 8.7M | Turkmen | < 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Muslim Lebanese Arab | 5.4M | Levantine Arabic | 0.7% | 17.3% |
| Yoruk Frontier | 14K | Balkan Gagauz Turkish | 0% | 0% |
| Hazara Frontier | 4.7M | Hazaragi | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Kumyk Frontier | 566K | Kumyk | 0% | 0% |
| Northern Yemeni Arab Frontier | 20M | Sanaani Arabic | 0% | 0% |
| Herki Frontier | 118K | Northern Kurdish | 0% | 0.1% |
| Tunisian Arab | 11.9M | Tunisian Arabic | 0% | 0.2% |
| Libyan Arab Frontier | 2.8M | Libyan Arabic | 0.1% | 0.8% |
| Turk Frontier | 66.8M | Turkish | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Southern Pashtun Frontier | 9.6M | Southern Pashto | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Lezgin Frontier | 707K | Lezgi | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Iraqi Arab | 22.4M | Mesopotamian Arabic | 0.2% | 1.2% |
| Abkhaz Frontier | 173K | Abkhaz | 0.1% | 2.8% |
| Moroccan Arab Frontier | 31.5M | Moroccan Arabic | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Hemshin Frontier | 155K | Turkish | < 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Southern Uzbek Frontier | 3.8M | Southern Uzbek | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Ossetian Frontier | 649K | Ossetic | 0.1% | 7.7% |
| Yazidi | 812K | Northern Kurdish | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Adyghe Frontier | 458K | Adyghe | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Afghan | 1.3M | Dari | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Bosniak Frontier | 3.1M | Bosnian | < 0.1% | 0.3% |
| Tatar | 5.7M | Tatar | 0.4% | 2.6% |
| Domari Roma Frontier | 1.9M | Iranian Persian | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Alevi Zaza Frontier | 455K | Northern Zazaki | 0% | 0% |
| Pashtun Frontier | 34.2M | Central Pashto | 0% | 0% |
| Gajal Gadzhal Frontier | 19K | Turkish | 0% | 0% |
| Pomak | 106K | Bulgarian | 0.4% | 1.5% |
| Meskhetian Turk Frontier | 200K | Russian | 0% | 0% |
| Zaza Dimli Frontier | 1.3M | Southern Zazaki | 0% | 0% |
| Anatolian Arab Frontier | 620K | North Mesopotamian Arabic | < 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Uyghur Frontier | 12.3M | Uyghur | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Urdu Frontier | 2.9M | Urdu | 0% | < 0.1% |
| Shikaki Frontier | 59K | Northern Kurdish | 0% | 0% |
| Kurmanji Kurd Frontier | 16.5M | Northern Kurdish | < 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Palestinian Arab | 11.5M | Levantine Arabic | 1% | 3.6% |
| Alevi Kurd Frontier | 600K | Northern Kurdish | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Arabic-Speaking Algerian Frontier | 38.2M | Algerian Arabic | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Sudanese Arab Frontier | 21.8M | Sudanese Arabic | 0.1% | 0.4% |
| Laz Lazuri | 110K | Laz | 0.2% | 2% |
| Hertevin | 1K | Hertevin | 0% | 100% |
| Abaza Frontier | 72K | Abaza | 0% | 0.1% |
| Alevi Turk Frontier | 4.3M | Turkish | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Egyptian Arab | 73.6M | Egyptian Arabic | 0.5% | 1.4% |
| Somali Frontier | 28.9M | Somali | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Jordanian Arab | 4.9M | Levantine Arabic | 0.3% | 3.6% |
| Pontic Greek | 755K | Pontic | 0.5% | 86.9% |
| Chechen Frontier | 2M | Chechen | 0% | 0% |
| Crimean Tatars | 637K | Crimean Tatar | < 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Spanish Jew | 62K | Hebrew | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Alawite Frontier | 2.3M | Levantine Arabic | < 0.1% | < 0.1% |
| Kyrgyz Frontier | 6.1M | Kyrgyz | 0.1% | 0.3% |
| Eastern Circassian Kabardian Frontier | 1.2M | Kabardian | < 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Karakalpak | 994K | Karakalpak | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Turkish Jew Frontier | 53K | Hebrew | 0% | 0% |
| Tajik Frontier | 12.3M | Tajik | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Kazakh | 18M | Kazakh | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| Syrian Arab | 23.5M | Levantine Arabic | 0.3% | 8.5% |
| Macedonian | 1.8M | Macedonian | 0.2% | 84.8% |
| Greek | 10M | Greek | 0.3% | 94.4% |
| Bavarian Austrians | 14.4M | Bavarian | 0.4% | 76.4% |
| Serb | 7.9M | Serbian | 0.5% | 81.1% |
| Turoyo Syrian Aramean | 188K | Turoyo | 0.8% | 93.3% |
| Persian | 48.4M | Iranian Persian | 1.5% | 1.8% |
| Deaf Frontier | 27.5M | Pakistan Sign Language | 1.8% | 3.7% |
| Turkish Azeri | 18.6M | South Azerbaijani | 1.6% | 1.8% |
| Balkan Roma | 946K | Balkan Romani | 1.9% | 59.4% |
| Chaldeans | 117K | Chaldean Neo-Aramaic | 1% | 95% |
| Assyrian | 672K | Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | 1.4% | 91.6% |
| Georgian | 3.2M | Georgian | 1.5% | 86.2% |
| Russian | 134.2M | Russian | 1.5% | 64.9% |
| Moldovan | 2.5M | Romanian | 1.6% | 73.7% |
| Gagauz | 214K | Gagauz | 1.8% | 87.6% |
| Bulgarian | 6.7M | Bulgarian | 2.1% | 91.5% |
| German | 66.7M | Standard German | 2.5% | 64.3% |
| Ukrainian | 33.8M | Ukrainian | 4% | 75.1% |
| Dutch | 14.4M | Dutch | 4.4% | 48% |
| Romanian | 20.8M | Romanian | 6.3% | 95.1% |
| Mandarin Han Chinese | 925.1M | Mandarin Chinese | 8.3% | 9.9% |
| British | 55M | English | 8.9% | 60.4% |
| Armenian | 6M | Armenian | 9.3% | 94.6% |
| US Americans | 202.4M | English | 32.9% | 81% |
Intercede for Türkiye and its peoples
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