The Uzbeks of Turkmenistan

The Uzbeks of Turkmenistan, numbering approximately 590,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Turkic ethnolinguistic people of Central Asia whose identity emerged through a long process of interaction and integration among Turkic, Iranian, and Mongol populations in the region They are an Diaspora people, with Uzbek as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Uzbek people cluster of the Turkic Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Uzbek, Northern.

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

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Turkmenistan
People Cluster: Uzbek
Primary Language(s): Uzbek, Northern (uzn)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 590,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024649
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Uzbeks of Turkmenistan

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Uzbek, Northern
Language Family: Turkic

100%
%
Uzbek, Northern Speakers

Media Resources in Uzbek, Northern:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Uzbek, Northern:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Institute for Bible Translation, Sweden
Muqaddas Kitob, 2019

2 entries

Or check out the Uzbek, Northern bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Uzbeks 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 Uzbeks:
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 Uzbeks of Turkmenistan

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRom 6:23

Pray that those who haven't heard yet will hear and believe that the wages of their sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
readPsalm 104:8

Pray that they will see the hand of God in the beauty and order of the natural world, and that they will worship Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
readDeuteronomy 6:6-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hide God's Word in their hearts, let it shape their conversations and daily lives, and pass on their faith to the next generation.

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.

Uzbek, Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 107469) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

7 people groups

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.

Scroll to Top