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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Balkar of Russian Federation

The Balkar of Russian Federation, numbering approximately 113,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Turkic ethnic group indigenous to the Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria They are an Indigenous people, with Balkar as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Caucasus people cluster of the Eurasian Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Karachay-Balkar.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Russian Federation
People Cluster: Caucasus
Primary Language(s): Karachay-Balkar (krc)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 113,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024448
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Pray for the Balkar 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Karachay-Balkar
Language Family: Turkic

80%
%
Karachay-Balkar Speakers

Media Resources in Karachay-Balkar:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Karachay-Balkar:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
IBT Version✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Karachay-Balkar bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Balkar 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 Balkar:
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

Pray specifically for the Balkar of Russian Federation

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.
readMatthew 4:16

Pray that those living in darkness and the shadow of death will see a great light and turn to the Lord for salvation.

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
readGenesis 2:7

Pray that Christians will be able to share the hope of Christ with suffering people and that He will breathe new life into their souls.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
readPsalm 51:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence that God has turned His face from their sins and forgiven their iniquities.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.
readEphesians 6:18b-19

Ask God to give believers He sends to the lost of this people group the boldness and clarity to proclaim the mystery of the gospel in a way that people can understand.

Balkar Across Countries (ROP3 - 100852) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BalkarPG024448BalkarRussian Federation113,000Engaged yet UnreachedKarachay-BalkarSunni 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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