The Turkmen of Uzbekistan

The Turkmen of Uzbekistan, numbering approximately 227,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, with communities in Iran, Afghanistan, and smaller diasporas in Turkey and the Middle East. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Turkmen is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Turkmen

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Uzbekistan
People Cluster: Turkmen
Primary Language(s): Turkmen (tuk)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 227,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024320
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Turkmen of Uzbekistan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Turkmen
Language Family: Turkic

100%
%
Turkmen Speakers

Media Resources in Turkmen:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

3 films

Bible Resources in Turkmen:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2016 Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓✓
2016 Turkmen Truth✓✓✓

2 entries

Or check out the Turkmen bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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 Turkmen:
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 Turkmen of Uzbekistan

But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven"
readMatthew 9:14

Pray that those who are spiritually dead will recognize their need for spiritual nourishment and turn to the One who offers true fulfillment.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
readPsalm 1:1-2

Pray that God will call out many sons and daughters from among them and give them a deep love for His Word.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
readPsalm 27:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will strengthen them when they face persecution of any kind for Jesus' name’s sake.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that God will send and sustain believers to cross cultures and share the gospel with the lost. Ask that He will give them His heart for the lost and that many will believe in Him and not perish but have eternal life.

Turkmen Across Countries (ROP3 - 110306) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

9 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
TurkmenTurkmenPakistan15,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenTurkmenAfghanistan2,105,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenTurkmenUzbekistan227,000Unengaged and UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenTurkmenKyrgyzstan2,500Unengaged and UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenTurkmenTajikistan15,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenTurkmenTurkmenistan5,360,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenTurkmenIran2,785,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenTurkmenUnited States200Unengaged and UnreachedTurkmenSunni Islam
TurkmenTurkmenTurkiye800,000Engaged yet UnreachedTurkishFolk Islam

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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