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
Portuguese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Español | Tagalog / Filipino
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The Assyrians of Iran

The Assyrians of Iran, numbering approximately 22,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Semitic people indigenous to northern Mesopotamia, speakers of Neo-Aramaic, claiming continuity with ancient Assyria, split across the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic, and Syriac Orthodox traditions, with a large modern diaspora. They mostly adhere to Chaldean Catholicism and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Iran
People Cluster: Assyrian
Primary Language(s): Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (aii)
Primary Religion(s): Chaldean Catholicism
Population: 22,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024131
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Pray for the Assyrians of Iran

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!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Chaldean Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

60%
%
Chaldean Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

80%
%
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Speakers

Media Resources in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Assyrian Neo-Aramaic 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: 0), 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): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% 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 Assyrians:
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

Pray specifically for the Assyrians of Iran

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
readActs 18:8

Pray that rulers and leaders will access the gospel, respond in faith, and be baptized, uniting with Christ and His Church, and influence others to follow Him.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
readPhilippians 1:6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be assured that God will complete the good work He has begun in them until the day of Christ's return.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
readMark 1:17-18

Pray that God will raise up believers from this place and/or other cultures nearby to proclaim the gospel to those who desperately need to encounter it.

Assyrian Across Countries (ROP3 - 100574) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

14 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AssyriansPG011701AssyriansIraq207,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG000543AssyriansSweden146,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicSyriac Orthodox Christianity
AssyriansPG000214AssyriansGermany70,000No Longer UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicSyriac Orthodox Christianity
AssyriansPG043528AssyriansUnited States70,000No Longer UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG012181AssyriansSyria50,500Engaged yet UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicSyriac Orthodox Christianity
AssyriansPG007833AssyriansAustralia40,000No Longer UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChurch of the East
AssyriansPG011812AssyriansLebanon31,500Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicSyriac Orthodox Christianity
AssyriansPG024540AssyriansTurkiye29,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChurch of the East
AssyriansPG024131AssyriansIran22,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG043355AssyriansCanada11,500No Longer UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG011794AssyriansKuwait8,500Engaged yet UnreachedTuroyoChurch of the East
AssyriansPG000613AssyriansUnited Kingdom7,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG042491AssyriansFrance4,000Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChaldean Catholicism
AssyriansPG011733AssyriansIsrael850Unengaged and UnreachedAssyrian Neo-AramaicChurch of the East

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 Data Standards section.

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