• Religion:  

Religion: Buddhism What is Primary Religion?

Population of Adherents

501,315,000

% of World Population

6.3 %

People Groups

686

Unreached Groups

533 (77.7 %)

Map Notes
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Progress Scale: ●●●●●   
☀
 = Frontier peoples
Photo People Group Country Population Primary Language Primary Religion Progress
Scale 		% Christian
Adherent 		%
Evangelical 		Scripture
Status 		Est. Workers
Needed * ▲
Deaf Japan 248,000 Japanese Sign Language Buddhism ● 1.54 % Bible Portions 5
Palaung, Pale Myanmar (Burma) 291,000 Palaung, Ruching Buddhism ☀ 0.10 % 0.06 % Complete Bible 6
Khmer Krom Cambodia 281,000 Khmer Buddhism ● 1.20 % 0.60 % Complete Bible 6
Deaf Thailand 358,000 Thai Sign Language Buddhism ● 1.10 % Bible Portions 7
Batgama Sri Lanka 388,000 Sinhala Buddhism ● 1.48 % Complete Bible 8
Kui Thailand 432,000 Kuay Buddhism ● 2.00 % 0.41 % Complete Bible 9
Dawei, Tavoyan Myanmar (Burma) 455,000 Tavoyan Buddhism ☀ 0.10 % 0.04 % Unspecified 9
Phu Thai Thailand 504,000 Phu Thai Buddhism ● 0.60 % 0.10 % Translation Started 10
Tai Nua, Chinese Shan China 490,000 Tai Nua Buddhism ● 0.19 % 0.17 % Bible Portions 10
Bai, Southern China 671,000 Bai, Southern Buddhism ● 0.13 % 0.13 % Bible Portions 13
Amdo, Hbrogpa China 743,000 Tibetan, Amdo Buddhism ☀ 0.05 % 0.05 % New Testament 15
Tibetan Gtsang China 759,000 Tibetan, Central Buddhism ☀ 0.02 % 0.01 % Complete Bible 15
Vietnamese Cambodia 818,000 Vietnamese Buddhism ● 3.00 % 0.17 % Complete Bible 16
Tai Lue China 804,000 Lu Buddhism ● 0.50 % 0.33 % New Testament 16
Pa-O Myanmar (Burma) 860,000 Pa'o Buddhism ● 1.70 % 0.30 % New Testament 17
Burakumin Japan 870,000 Japanese Buddhism ● 0.50 % 0.20 % Complete Bible 17
Japanese United States 858,000 Japanese Buddhism ● 1.50 % 0.50 % Complete Bible 17
Han Chinese, Mandarin Myanmar (Burma) 975,000 Chinese, Mandarin Buddhism ● 2.00 % 1.40 % Complete Bible 19
Tibetan, Central China 940,000 Tibetan, Central Buddhism ☀ 0.04 % 0.03 % Complete Bible 19
Mon Myanmar (Burma) 1,138,000 Mon Buddhism ● 0.90 % 0.82 % Complete Bible 23
Khmer Vietnam 1,331,000 Khmer Buddhism ● 3.00 % 1.87 % Complete Bible 27
Khmer, Northern Thailand 1,498,000 Khmer, Northern Buddhism ● 0.20 % 0.10 % Complete Bible 30
Khampa Eastern China 1,598,000 Tibetan, Khams Buddhism ☀ 0.05 % 0.01 % New Testament 32
Mongol, Khalka Mongolia 2,381,000 Mongolian, Halh Buddhism ● 1.50 % 0.86 % Complete Bible 48
Rakhine Myanmar (Burma) 2,687,000 Rakhine Buddhism ☀ 0.10 % 0.05 % Bible Portions 54
Totals: 686 Peoples   501,315,000     533 ●       5,942
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Disclaimers:
  1. Joshua Project data is drawn from many sources and of varying accuracy depending on source and editorial decisions. Populations are scaled to the current year. Other data may have varying ages. We welcome updates.
  2. Joshua Project occasionally adjusts profile text from third party sources. This is done to avoid confusion regarding the current reality of a people group, to fix grammar and spelling and to avoid potentially offensive wording.
  3. A displayed zero can mean true zero, a very small rounded number or sometimes unknown. Blanks mean an unknown value.
  4. Data is not as precise as it appears. Values for %Christian Adherent and %Evangelical (which determine unreached status) are often informed estimates, some more accurate than others. We recommend against using %Christian Adherent and %Evangelical to calculate absolute numbers.
  5. Joshua Project makes every effort to ensure that the subject in an image is in fact from the specific people group. In rare instances a representative photo may be used.
  6. Joshua Project may be able to provide more information than what is published on this site. Please contact us.
  7. On-the-ground reality may vary from what is presented here. Before making travel plans based on data presented here, please confirm with other sources to the extent possible.
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