Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
Be sure to use the data import function in your favorite app for working with data.
If you'd like to help improve these translations, Contact Us.

PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Nentsy of Russian Federation

The Nentsy of Russian Federation, numbering approximately 44,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Russia. They are an Indigenous people in the Finno-Ugric people cluster of the Eurasian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Nenets and their primary religion is Shamanism.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Nenets

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Russian Federation
People Cluster: Finno-Ugric
Primary Language(s): Nenets (yrk)
Primary Religion(s): Shamanism
Population: 44,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000963
View on Joshua Project

Print Profile
Submit Updates

Pray for the Nentsy of Russian Federation

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
Download Prayer Guide

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Shamanism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

50%
%
Shamanism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nenets
Language Family: Uralic

49%
%
Nenets Speakers

Media Resources in Nenets:

Films:

No entries found for: Nenets(yrk). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Nenets:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Nenets bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% or Greater but Less than 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Nentsy:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Nentsy are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Nentsy:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Nentsy are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Nentsy:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Nentsy of Russian Federation

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
readRomans 1:19

Pray that God will use testimony of creation to cause those who do not yet know the gospel to long for truth and a relationship with the Author of life.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
readHebrews 10:35

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hold unswervingly to their faith and to their confidence in Christ, which has a great reward.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe."
readJohn 6:35-36

Praise God for the things such as bread that He has provided as natural conversation bridges to the gospel. Pray that believers will use any bridges He provides to share the gospel with those who do not yet know the good news.

Nenets Across Countries (ROP3 - 111128) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

Scroll to Top