Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia comprises 11 countries spanning the mainland and thousands of islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, from Myanmar and Thailand to Indonesia and the Philippines. It is a region of great religious diversity: Buddhism predominates in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos; Islam is the majority religion in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei; and Catholicism has deep roots in the Philippines and Timor-Leste, a legacy of European colonization.

It is also a region of strong economic and political contrasts, with global cities such as Singapore alongside isolated rural areas and hard-to-reach mountainous borderlands. The church has a significant presence in some countries, but remains virtually absent among dozens of smaller ethnic groups, especially in the border regions between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.

There are 1,628 recorded people groups in the region, and 697 of them remain unreached. Evangelicals account for 4.4%, the highest proportion among the major blocs of South and Southeast Asia, driven mainly by the islands. In terms of Bible access, 1,228 of the 1,565 mapped people groups still have no Scripture in their language.

It is a region where the church has already put down real roots, but where much remains to be done before every people has access to the Word in its own language.