Afghanistan people groups, languages and religions

Country: Afghanistan

Number of People Groups

People Groups Unreached

69 (97.2%)

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

40,984,000

Population in Unreached

40,983,000 (100.0%)

Largest Religion

Islam (99.8%)

% Christian Adherent

0.02%

% Evangelical

0.01%

Evangelical Annual Growth Rate

0.0%

(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 *
Afghan, Tajik	11,293,000	11,717,000	●	Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.01 %	226
Afshari	16,000	415,000		Azerbaijani, South	Islam	0 ☀	0.04 %	0.04 %	1
Aimaq	1,685,000	2,206,000	●	Aimaq	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	34
Americans, U.S.	500	195,885,000		English	Christianity	5 ●	84.50 %	30.00 %	-1 -
Ansari	2,600	17,535,000		Urdu	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Arab, Tajiki	19,000	21,000		Arabic, Tajiki Spoken	Islam	1 ●	0.20 %	0.20 %	1
Arora (Hindu traditions)	1,600	4,859,000		Saraiki	Hinduism	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Azerbaijani	13,000	9,141,000		Azerbaijani, North	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Baloch, Western	494,000	1,345,000	●	Balochi, Western	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.01 %	10
Bania (Muslim traditions)	6,800	6,800		Urdu	Islam	1 ●	0.23 %	0.20 %	1
Brahmin	3,900	34,983,000		Urdu	Hinduism	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Brahui	341,000	673,000	●	Brahui	Islam	1 ●	0.10 %	0.10 %	7
Changgar	3,200	380,000		Urdu	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Darwazi, Badakhshani	17,000	17,000	●	Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Deaf	411,000	49,091,000	●	Afghan Sign Language	Islam	0 ☀	0.05 %	-1	8
Garwi, Kohistani	2,000	2,000	●	Gawri	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Gujar (Muslim traditions)	19,000	5,672,000	●	Gujari	Islam	0 ☀	0.03 %	0.03 %	1
Hazara	3,535,000	4,345,000	●	Hazaragi	Islam	0 ☀	0.03 %	0.03 %	71
Ishkashimi	3,300	5,000	●	Ishkashimi	Islam	0 ☀	0.06 %	0.06 %	1
Kalash (Chitrali)	11,000	38,000		Khowar	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Karakalpak	3,400	913,000		Karakalpak	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Kazakh	3,400	17,864,000		Kazakh	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Khatri (Sikh traditions)	2,900	359,000		Punjabi, Eastern	Other / Small	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Khik (Wakhi)	22,000	122,000	●	Wakhi	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Kurd, Central	4,200	8,769,000		Kurdish, Central	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.01 %	1
Kyrgyz	1,300	5,840,000		Kyrgyz	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Moghal	2,400	3,450,000	●	Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Munji	7,300	7,300	●	Munji	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Mussali	3,400	2,684,000		Punjabi, Eastern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Narisati, Arandui	41,000	41,000	●	Gawar-Bati	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Nuristani, Ashkuni	51,000	51,000	●	Ashkun	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Nuristani, Grangali	12,000	12,000	●	Grangali	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Nuristani, Kamviri	23,000	23,000	●	Kamviri	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Nuristani, Malakhel	3,400	3,400	●	Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Nuristani, Narisati	152,000	196,000	●	Kati	Islam	1 ●	0.10 %	0.00 %	3
Nuristani, Prasuni	10,000	10,000	●	Prasuni	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Nuristani, Tregami	4,500	4,500	●	Tregami	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Nuristani, Waigeli	33,000	33,000	●	Waigali	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Ormuri	3,400	3,400	●	Pashto, Southern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Pahlavani	3,900	3,900	●	Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Parachi	8,500	8,500	●	Parachi	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Parsee	2,400	170,000	●	Dari	Other / Small	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Parya, Laghmani	400	6,400	●	Parya	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Pashayi	49,000	75,000	●	Kohistani, Indus	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Pashayi, Northeast	97,000	97,000	●	Pashai, Northeast	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	2
Pashayi, Northwest	101,000	101,000	●	Pashai, Northwest	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	2
Pashayi, Southeast	578,000	578,000	●	Pashai, Southeast	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	12
Pashayi, Southwest	128,000	128,000	●	Pashai, Southwest	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.00 %	3
Pashtun, Northern	7,100,000	39,506,000	●	Pashto, Northern	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.01 %	142
Pashtun, Southeast	2,000,000	2,000,000		Pashto, Southern	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.01 %	40
Pashtun, Southern	4,500,000	4,902,000	●	Pashto, Southern	Islam	0 ☀	0.02 %	0.02 %	90
Persian	700,000	43,567,000		Persian, Iranian	Islam	1 ●	0.12 %	0.10 %	14
Punjabi	6,300	2,136,000	●	Punjabi, Eastern	Islam	1 ●	1.00 %	0.30 %	1
Punjabi, Western	39,000	106,000	●	Punjabi, Western	Islam	1 ●	0.20 %	0.10 %	1
Qizilbash	316,000	321,000	●	Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	6
Romani, Balkan	18,000	1,164,000		Romani, Balkan	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Romani, Domari	12,000	3,743,000		Domari	Islam	0 ☀	0.02 %	0.00 %	1
Russian	1,000	134,114,000		Russian	Non-Religious	2 ●	31.00 %	0.30 %	-1 -
Sanglechi	2,900	4,900	●	Sanglechi	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Sau	5,100	5,100	●	Savi	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Shughni	48,000	138,000	●	Shughni	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Shumashti	1,700	1,700	●	Shumashti	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Sindhi	26,000	179,000		Sindhi	Islam	0 ☀	0.08 %	0.08 %	1
Tangshuri	17,000	17,000	●	Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Tirahi	6,100	6,100	●	Pashto, Southern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Turk	11,000	66,709,000		Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Turkmen	2,294,000	8,551,000	●	Turkmen	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	46
Uyghur	3,600	12,311,000		Uyghur	Islam	0 ☀	0.05 %	0.05 %	1
Uzbek, Southern	4,636,000	4,748,000	●	Uzbek, Southern	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.01 %	93
Warduji	8,500	8,500	●	Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Wotapuri-Katarqalai	3,600	3,600	●	Pashto, Northern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Totals: 71	40,984,000					69 ●	0.02 %	0.01 %	860
Unclassified / Other Individuals	145,000
UN Country Population (2022)	41,129,000

Other minor groups: 2

Afghanistan

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
Mongolian	1 ●	300	Mongolian, Peripheral	Buddhism
Tatar	1 ●	500	Tatar	Islam
Totals: 2

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.

Download Data Data Sources Definitions

Prayer Cards

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Province ▲	Estimated Population
Badakhshan	1,303,000
Badghis	680,000
Baghlan	1,252,000
Balkh	1,849,000
Bamyan	612,000
Daykundi	639,000
Farah	696,000
Faryab	1,371,000
Ghazni	1,685,000
Ghor	945,000
Hilmand	1,788,000
Hirat	2,628,000
Jawzjan	743,000
Kabul	6,228,000
Kandahar	1,713,000
Kapisa	605,000
Khost	788,000
Kunar	618,000
Kunduz	1,398,000
Laghman	611,000
Logar	537,000
Nangarhar	2,096,000
Nimroz	227,000
Nuristan	202,000
Paktika	960,000
Paktya	707,000
Panjshir	210,000
Parwan	912,000
Samangan	532,000
Sari Pul	767,000
Takhar	1,061,000
Uruzgan	496,000
Wardak	817,000
Zabul	475,000
Provinces: 34	38,151,000
UN Country Population	41,129,000

Afghanistan Prayer Cards
	Afghanistan prayer cards. All Unreached

Afghanistan Links
Operation World
Open Doors Persecution Ranking
World Factbook
Religious Freedom Report
UN Human Development Report
Ethnologue Language Listing

Afghanistan Maps
Political Map (UN)
Language Map (Ethnologue)
Ethnolinguistic Map (Univ of Texas)
East Afghanistan Tribal Map (Source: NPS)
South Afghanistan Tribal Map (Source: NPS)
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
Afghan Sign Language	afg	1	1	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Aimaq	aiq	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Arabic, Tajiki Spoken	abh	1	1	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	1	1
Ashkun	ask	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Azerbaijani, North	azj	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Azerbaijani, South	azb	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Balochi, Western	bgn	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Brahui	brh	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Dari	prs	9	9	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Domari	rmt	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	-1
English	eng	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Gawar-Bati	gwt	1	1	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Gawri	gwc	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	-1	-1
Grangali	nli	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Gujari	gju	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Hazaragi	haz	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Ishkashimi	isk	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Kamviri	xvi	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Karakalpak	kaa	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Kati	bsh	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Kazakh	kaz	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Khowar	khw	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Kohistani, Indus	mvy	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	-1	-1
Kurdish, Central	ckb	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Kyrgyz	kir	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Munji	mnj	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Parachi	prc	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Parya	paq	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Pashai, Northeast	aee	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Pashai, Northwest	glh	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Pashai, Southeast	psi	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Pashai, Southwest	psh	1	1	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Pashto, Northern	pbu	2	2	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	-1
Pashto, Southern	pbt	4	4	3 Bible Portions	-1	1	1	1	-1
Persian, Iranian	pes	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Prasuni	prn	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Punjabi, Eastern	pan	3	3	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Punjabi, Western	pnb	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	1	1
Romani, Balkan	rmn	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	-1
Russian	rus	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Sanglechi	sgy	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Saraiki	skr	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Savi	sdg	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Shughni	sgh	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Shumashti	sts	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Sindhi	snd	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Tregami	trm	1	1	1 Translation Needed	-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
Urdu	urd	4	4	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Uyghur	uig	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Uzbek, Southern	uzs	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	1
Waigali	wbk	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Wakhi	wbl	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Totals:	54	71	69		14	18	30	48	15

Networking Possibilities

MissionNext - connect with mission agencies or schools worldwide
The Mission App - connecting you to mission agencies that match your calling
Linking Global Voices - networks and global collaboration for followers of Christ
visionSynergy - developing high impact missional networks
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 Afghanistan. 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 Afghanistan
Christian ministry in Afghanistan
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

Afghanistan Statistics
People Groups	71
Unreached People Groups	69 (97.2%)
Population	40,984,000
Population Annual Growth Rate	2.4%
Population in Unreached	40,983,000 (100.0%)
Primary Religion	Islam
Percent Christian Adherent	0.0%
Percent Evangelical	0.0%
Evangelical Annual Growth Rate	0.0%
Pioneer Workers Needed *	860
Country Progress Level	1 ●
Urbanization	27%
Continent	Asia
Region	Asia, Central
10/40 Window	Yes
Country Code	AF
Official Language(s)	Pashto, Southern \| Dari
Literacy Rate	43%
Estimated Illiterate Population	23,361,000
Persecution Ranking	9 (1=Highest) Open Doors

Afghanistan Prayer Cards / Guide
Prayer Cards All Unreached	Prayer Guide

Afghanistan Links
Operation World
Stratus Earth Index
Prosperity Index
Social Progress Index
Open Doors Persecution Ranking
World Factbook
Religious Freedom Report
UN Human Development Report
Ethnologue Language Listing

Afghanistan Maps
Political Map (UN)
Language Map (Ethnologue)
Ethnolinguistic Map (Univ of Texas)
East Afghanistan Tribal Map (Source: NPS)
South Afghanistan Tribal Map (Source: NPS)
Perry-Castaneda Map Collection

Afghanistan Videos
Afghanistan Prayercast Video