South America's lowest evangelical proportion
With 13.7% evangelicals, it is the subregion with the lowest evangelical presence among those of South America.
Region · South America
Southern Cone
Comprises 5 countries and territories in the far south of South America: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and the Falkland Islands.
5 countries
109 peoples
12.9% evangelicals
The 5 flags of the region. Tap one to open the country.
Gospel reach among the 109 peoples
16Unreached · 14.7% of peoples
93reached peoples
12.9%evangelicals (weighted average)
31Without complete Bible
- 8 Unreached 7.3%
- 8 Minimally reached 7.3%
- 20 Superficially reached 18.3%
- 56 Partially reached 51.4%
- 17 Significantly reached 15.6%
Largest unreached peoples:
Syrian Arab 1.5M
Spanish-Speaking Jews 162K
Deaf 103K
What it is
The Southern Cone is the southernmost tip of South America, comprising Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and the Falkland Islands, a region of temperate climate, extensive pampas and strong influence from European immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially Italian and Spanish.
It is the South American subregion with the lowest proportion of evangelicals, just 13.7%, reflecting a historically more secular society and a cultural Catholicism that, in countries such as Uruguay, coexists with high proportions of people with no religion. Yet there are signs of evangelical growth in working-class neighborhoods in Argentina and Chile.
Of the region’s 110 peoples, 16 are still considered unreached, fewer than in other parts of the continent, but revealing surviving Indigenous groups in the Paraguayan Chaco and southern Chile. Of the 104 languages spoken in the Southern Cone, 31 still have no part of the Bible translated.
Pray for this region of strong European identity and growing secularism, that the gospel may penetrate beyond cultural religiosity and also reach the Indigenous peoples who remain on the margins of the Southern Cone.
Context and characteristics
Strong European heritage
Italian and Spanish immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries strongly shaped the culture of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.
Advancing secularism
Uruguay, in particular, has one of Latin America's highest proportions of people with no religion.
Pampas and temperate climate
The extensive plains of the pampas shape the region's landscape and agricultural economy.
Surviving Indigenous peoples
Communities in the Paraguayan Chaco and southern Chile preserve their own languages and traditions.
Countries in this region
Peoples overview
Peoples of the region
5Countries
109people groups
16unreached
12.9%evangelicals (weighted average)
- 8 Unreached 7.3%
- 8 Minimally reached 7.3%
- 20 Superficially reached 18.3%
- 56 Partially reached 51.4%
- 17 Significantly reached 15.6%
Compiled from the data of each country in this region.
The Bible in the languages of the region
104languages spoken
73With complete Bible
31Without complete Bible
- 73 With complete Bible 70.2%
- 31 Only portions of the Bible 29.8%
Source: Joshua Project and Progress.Bible. Estimates, may vary. Compiled from the data of each country in this region.
Unreached peoples of this region 16 in total
What to pray for
Intercession
For the Southern Cone's 16 unreached people groups, including Indigenous communities in the Chaco and southern Chile.
For Bible translation into the region's 31 languages that still have no part of Scripture.
Against growing secularism and spiritual indifference, especially in Uruguay.
For growing evangelical churches in working-class neighborhoods in Argentina and Chile.
For the Indigenous peoples of the Paraguayan Chaco, still largely unreached with the gospel.
For cultural Catholicism to open to the living message of the gospel.
For families in the Southern Cone, for spiritual restoration and hope in Christ.