New Zealand people groups, languages and religions

Country: New Zealand

Number of People Groups

People Groups Unreached

28 (30.4%)

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

4,862,000

Population in Unreached

416,000 (8.6%)

Largest Religion

Christianity (51.0%)

% Christian Adherent

51.05%

% Evangelical

17.67%

Evangelical Annual Growth Rate

0.5%

(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 *
Afghani, general	3,600	728,000		Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Afrikaner	1,300	4,742,000		Afrikaans	Christianity	5 ●	90.00 %	21.00 %	-1 -
Americans, U.S.	28,000	193,960,000		English	Christianity	5 ●	80.00 %	28.90 %	-1 -
Amhara, Ethiopian	1,300	25,261,000		Amharic	Christianity	3 ●	86.00 %	1.10 %	-1 -
Anglo-Australian	76,000	18,251,000		English	Christianity	5 ●	70.00 %	14.40 %	-1 -
Anglo-Canadian	12,000	16,829,000		English	Christianity	4 ●	76.00 %	7.70 %	-1 -
Anglo-New Zealander	2,745,000	3,393,000	●	English	Christianity	5 ●	51.00 %	21.00 %	-1 -
Anglo-Romani	1,400	200,000		Angloromani	Christianity	4 ●	70.00 %	10.00 %	-1 -
Anglo-South African	18,000	1,496,000		English	Christianity	5 ●	70.00 %	21.00 %	-1 -
Arab, Egyptian	1,200	71,476,000		Arabic, Egyptian Spoken	Islam	4 ●	16.00 %	4.00 %	-1 -
Arab, Iraqi	2,800	18,095,000		Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken	Islam	1 ●	3.00 %	0.40 %	1
Arab, Lebanese	1,100	7,253,000		Arabic, North Levantine Spoken	Islam	2 ●	32.00 %	0.50 %	-1 -
Assyrian	1,600	916,000		Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	Christianity	3 ●	96.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Austrian, Bavarian	1,100	14,523,000		Bavarian	Christianity	3 ●	83.00 %	0.50 %	-1 -
Black African, general	3,800	1,131,000		English	Christianity	5 ●	75.00 %	15.00 %	-1 -
Brazilian, White	3,000	101,032,000		Portuguese	Christianity	5 ●	90.00 %	30.00 %	-1 -
British, English	202,000	54,472,000		English	Christianity	4 ●	60.00 %	8.80 %	-1 -
British, Scottish	26,000	5,520,000		English	Christianity	4 ●	55.00 %	3.00 %	-1 -
Burmese	2,300	32,291,000		Burmese	Buddhism	1 ●	0.60 %	0.20 %	1
Cebuano	3,500	23,226,000		Cebuano	Christianity	5 ●	99.00 %	15.00 %	-1 -
Chilean	1,800	17,521,000		Spanish	Christianity	5 ●	90.00 %	18.00 %	-1 -
Chinese, general	55,000	15,654,000		English	Non-Religious	4 ●	9.00 %	5.70 %	-1 -
Cook Islands Maori	65,000	85,000		Cook Islands Maori	Christianity	5 ●	96.00 %	12.60 %	-1 -
Croat	2,800	5,313,000		Croatian	Christianity	3 ●	92.00 %	0.40 %	-1 -
Czech	1,200	10,918,000		Czech	Non-Religious	2 ●	28.00 %	0.80 %	-1 -
Danish	2,100	5,208,000		Danish	Christianity	4 ●	85.00 %	3.50 %	-1 -
Deaf	9,800	48,824,000	●	New Zealand Sign Language	Christianity	3 ●	53.20 %	-1	-1 -
Dutch	19,000	13,560,000		Dutch	Non-Religious	4 ●	47.00 %	4.30 %	-1 -
European, general	28,000	250,000		English	Christianity	4 ●	65.00 %	4.00 %	-1 -
Fijian	63,000	441,000		Fijian	Christianity	5 ●	65.00 %	25.20 %	-1 -
Fijian Hindi	1,700	201,000		Hindi, Fiji	Hinduism	4 ●	34.00 %	9.00 %	-1 -
Filipino, Tagalog	70,000	39,326,000		Tagalog	Christianity	5 ●	92.00 %	12.30 %	-1 -
French	4,900	50,956,000		French	Christianity	3 ●	61.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
German	17,000	66,498,000		German, Standard	Christianity	4 ●	64.00 %	2.10 %	-1 -
German Swiss	2,500	4,909,000		German, Swiss	Christianity	4 ●	76.00 %	4.40 %	-1 -
Greek	2,600	10,318,000		Greek	Christianity	3 ●	91.00 %	0.40 %	-1 -
Gujarati	25,000	3,424,000		Gujarati	Hinduism	1 ●	0.50 %	0.10 %	1
Han Chinese, Cantonese	102,000	81,393,000		Chinese, Yue	Non-Religious	4 ●	9.00 %	5.70 %	-1 -
Han Chinese, Min Nan	6,100	44,219,000		Chinese, Min Nan	Ethnic Religions	1 ●	3.00 %	1.00 %	1
Han Chinese, Wu	24,000	83,026,000		Chinese, Wu	Non-Religious	4 ●	8.00 %	5.70 %	-1 -
Hindi	68,000	2,700,000		Hindi	Hinduism	1 ●	3.00 %	1.00 %	1
Hungarian	1,500	11,689,000		Hungarian	Christianity	4 ●	89.00 %	2.80 %	-1 -
Indonesian	4,400	10,146,000		Indonesian	Islam	4 ●	16.00 %	5.60 %	-1 -
Irish	11,000	8,381,000		English	Christianity	3 ●	92.00 %	1.50 %	-1 -
Italian	4,000	38,313,000		Italian	Christianity	3 ●	83.00 %	1.10 %	-1 -
Japanese	13,000	121,973,000		Japanese	Buddhism	1 ●	1.50 %	0.50 %	1
Jew, English-speaking	7,600	5,324,000	●	English	Ethnic Religions	1 ●	0.50 %	0.20 %	1
Kanarese	1,500	85,000		Kannada	Hinduism	1 ●	3.00 %	0.00 %	1
Khmer	9,200	16,305,000		Khmer	Buddhism	1 ●	3.00 %	1.40 %	1
Kiribertese	2,300	136,000		Kiribati	Christianity	4 ●	98.50 %	7.00 %	-1 -
Korean	31,000	81,346,000		Korean	Christianity	5 ●	31.00 %	16.80 %	-1 -
Lao	1,500	3,883,000		Lao	Buddhism	1 ●	4.00 %	1.90 %	1
Latin American, general	8,100	1,101,000		Spanish	Christianity	5 ●	91.70 %	15.00 %	-1 -
Malay	20,000	17,787,000		Malay	Islam	1 ●	0.90 %	0.30 %	1
Malayali	6,300	1,648,000		Malayalam	Hinduism	5 ●	15.00 %	12.00 %	-1 -
Maori	617,000	663,000	●	Maori	Christianity	5 ●	65.00 %	26.00 %	-1 -
Nepali, general	2,700	866,000		Nepali	Hinduism	1 ●	1.00 %	0.70 %	1
Niuean	25,000	27,000		Niue	Christianity	4 ●	95.00 %	8.00 %	-1 -
Pacific Islanders, general	4,500	4,700		English	Christianity	5 ●	95.00 %	12.00 %	-1 -
Pashtun, Northern	1,800	34,457,000		Pashto, Northern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Persian	3,400	43,037,000		Persian, Iranian	Islam	1 ●	2.00 %	1.40 %	1
Pitcairner, Norfolk	-1 Unknown	1,100		Pitcairn-Norfolk	Christianity	5 ●	100.00 %	18.00 %	-1 -
Polish	2,300	42,370,000		Polish	Christianity	3 ●	90.00 %	0.30 %	-1 -
Pukapuka	3,400	5,900		Pukapuka	Christianity	4 ●	95.00 %	5.00 %	-1 -
Punjabi	20,000	2,121,000		Punjabi, Eastern	Islam	1 ●	1.00 %	0.80 %	1
Rakahanga-Manihiki	3,800	5,700		Rakahanga-Manihiki	Christianity	4 ●	98.00 %	8.00 %	-1 -
Romanian	1,500	20,961,000		Romanian	Christianity	4 ●	97.00 %	5.00 %	-1 -
Russian	6,400	135,489,000		Russian	Christianity	3 ●	67.00 %	1.20 %	-1 -
Samoan	56,000	424,000		Samoan	Christianity	5 ●	97.00 %	18.00 %	-1 -
Serb	1,100	9,867,000		Serbian	Christianity	3 ●	81.00 %	0.60 %	-1 -
Shaikh	1,700	214,261,000		Bengali	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Sinhalese	14,000	486,000		Sinhala	Buddhism	1 ●	3.00 %	0.50 %	1
Slovene	1,900	1,941,000		Slovene	Christianity	3 ●	95.00 %	0.30 %	-1 -
Somali	1,700	24,795,000		Somali	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
South Asian, Bengali-speaking	3,500	1,914,000		Bengali	Islam	1 ●	1.00 %	0.13 %	1
South Asian, general	165,000	12,348,000		English	Hinduism	1 ●	4.00 %	2.00 %	3
South Asian, Telugu-speaking	4,900	1,159,000		Telugu	Hinduism	1 ●	3.00 %	0.60 %	1
Spaniard	2,200	29,276,000		Spanish	Christianity	3 ●	77.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Swahili	1,600	1,131,000		Swahili	Islam	1 ●	1.00 %	0.80 %	1
Swedish	1,500	9,087,000		Swedish	Christianity	4 ●	57.00 %	7.00 %	-1 -
Tahitian	1,500	78,000		Tahitian	Christianity	5 ●	90.00 %	15.00 %	-1 -
Tamil (Hindu traditions)	9,900	2,795,000		Tamil	Hinduism	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Thai	7,800	23,678,000		Thai	Buddhism	1 ●	3.00 %	0.80 %	1
Thai, Isan	8,600	18,655,000		Thai, Northeastern	Buddhism	1 ●	0.80 %	0.10 %	1
Tokelauan	7,600	8,700		Tokelauan	Christianity	4 ●	100.00 %	3.40 %	-1 -
Tongan	27,000	190,000		Tongan	Christianity	5 ●	96.00 %	15.50 %	-1 -
Turk	1,800	65,645,000		Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Tuvaluan	3,800	18,000		Tuvaluan	Christianity	5 ●	95.00 %	15.00 %	-1 -
Ukrainian	800	36,992,000		Ukrainian	Christianity	4 ●	79.00 %	3.80 %	-1 -
Urdu	7,300	2,144,000		Urdu	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Vietnamese	7,100	86,393,000		Vietnamese	Buddhism	2 ●	9.00 %	1.80 %	-1 -
Welsh	3,900	663,000		Welsh	Christianity	4 ●	60.00 %	6.00 %	-1 -
Totals: 92	4,862,000					28 ●	51.05 %	17.67 %	30
Unclassified / Other Individuals	36,000
UN Country Population (2022)	4,898,000

Other minor groups: 2

New Zealand

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
Gypsy, Anglo-Romani	4 ●	-1 Unknown	Angloromani	Christianity
Han Chinese, Hakka	3 ●	-1 Unknown	Chinese, Hakka	Ethnic Religions
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.

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Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Province ▲	Estimated Population
Auckland	737,000
Bay of Plenty	139,000
Canterbury	280,000
Chatham Islands	300
Gisborne	23,000
Hawke's Bay	79,000
Manawatu-Wanganui	116,000
Marlborough	22,000
Nelson	24,000
Northern Islands	1,926,000
Northland	79,000
Otago	105,000
Southern Islands	592,000
Southland	48,000
Taranaki	57,000
Tasman	24,000
Waikato	210,000
Wellington	245,000
West Coast	17,000
Provinces: 19	4,723,000
UN Country Population	4,898,000

New Zealand Prayer Cards
	New Zealand prayer cards. All Unreached

New Zealand Links
Operation World
World Factbook
Religious Freedom Report
UN Human Development Report
Ethnologue Language Listing
National Bible Society

New Zealand Maps
Language Map (Ethnologue)
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
Afrikaans	afr	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Amharic	amh	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Angloromani	rme	1	0	3 Bible Portions	1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Arabic, Egyptian Spoken	arz	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken	acm	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Arabic, North Levantine Spoken	apc	1	0	3 Bible Portions	-1	1	-1	1	-1
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	aii	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	-1
Bavarian	bar	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Bengali	ben	2	2	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Burmese	mya	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Cebuano	ceb	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Chinese, Min Nan	nan	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Chinese, Wu	wuu	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	-1
Chinese, Yue	yue	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Cook Islands Maori	rar	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	-1
Croatian	hrv	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Czech	ces	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Danish	dan	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Dari	prs	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Dutch	nld	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
English	eng	14	2	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Fijian	fij	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
French	fra	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
German, Standard	deu	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
German, Swiss	gsw	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Greek	ell	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Gujarati	guj	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Hindi	hin	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Hindi, Fiji	hif	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	-1
Hungarian	hun	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Indonesian	ind	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Italian	ita	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Japanese	jpn	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Kannada	kan	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Khmer	khm	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Kiribati	gil	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Korean	kor	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Lao	lao	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Malay	zlm	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	-1
Malayalam	mal	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Maori	mri	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Nepali	npi	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
New Zealand Sign Language	nzs	1	0	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	-1	-1
Niue	niu	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Pashto, Northern	pbu	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	-1
Persian, Iranian	pes	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Pitcairn-Norfolk	pih	1	0	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Polish	pol	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Portuguese	por	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Pukapuka	pkp	1	0	2 Translation Started	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Punjabi, Eastern	pan	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Rakahanga-Manihiki	rkh	1	0	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Romanian	ron	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Russian	rus	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Samoan	smo	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Serbian	srp	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	-1
Sinhala	sin	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	-1
Slovene	slv	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Somali	som	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Spanish	spa	3	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Swahili	swh	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Swedish	swe	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Tagalog	tgl	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Tahitian	tah	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Tamil	tam	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Telugu	tel	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Thai	tha	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Thai, Northeastern	tts	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Tokelauan	tkl	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Tongan	ton	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Turkish	tur	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Tuvaluan	tvl	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Ukrainian	ukr	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Urdu	urd	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Vietnamese	vie	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Welsh	cym	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Totals:	76	92	28		58	58	66	72	0

Networking Possibilities

Search the Web
There are many agencies and churches looking for additional staff to help them in their mission and calling in New Zealand. 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 New Zealand
Christian ministry in New Zealand
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

New Zealand Statistics
People Groups	92
Unreached People Groups	28 (30.4%)
Population	4,862,000
Population Annual Growth Rate	0.9%
Population in Unreached	416,000 (8.6%)
Primary Religion	Christianity
Percent Christian Adherent	51.0%
Percent Evangelical	17.7%
Evangelical Annual Growth Rate	0.5%
Pioneer Workers Needed *	30
Country Progress Level	5 ●
Urbanization	87%
Continent	Oceania
Region	Australia and Pacific
10/40 Window	No
Country Code	NZ
Official Language(s)	English \| Maori
Literacy Rate	99%
Estimated Illiterate Population	49,000
Persecution Ranking	Not ranked

New Zealand Maps
Language Map (Ethnologue)
Perry-Castaneda Map Collection

New Zealand Prayer Cards / Guide
Prayer Cards All Unreached	Prayer Guide

New Zealand Links
Operation World
Stratus Earth Index
Prosperity Index
Social Progress Index
World Factbook
Religious Freedom Report
UN Human Development Report
Ethnologue Language Listing
National Bible Society

New Zealand Videos
More great prayer resources at Prayercast