The Azerbaijani of Uzbekistan

The Azerbaijani of Uzbekistan, numbering approximately 82,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an Azerbaijani-speaking Turkic diaspora community whose identity is rooted in shared language, cultural heritage, and historical connections to Azerbaijan. They mostly adhere to Shia Islam and North Azerbaijani is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Uzbekistan
People Cluster: Azerbaijani
Primary Language(s): North Azerbaijani (azj)
Primary Religion(s): Shia Islam
Population: 82,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024657
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Pray for the Azerbaijani of Uzbekistan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Shia Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

70%
%
Shia Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: North Azerbaijani
Language Family: Turkic

100%
%
Azerbaijani, North Speakers

Media Resources in North Azerbaijani:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in North Azerbaijani:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Kitab Shirketi/Müqəddəs Kitab✓✓✓
Kitab Shirketi/Müqəddəs Kitab✓✓✓

2 entries

Or check out the North Azerbaijani 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 Azerbaijani:
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 Azerbaijani of Uzbekistan

Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
readJerremiah 32:17

Pray that the God who made the heavens and the earth by the power of His outstretched arm, the One who is able to save those who are lost, will show His great love and mercy to those who are walking in darkness.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
readPsalm 67:4

Pray that God will use ways from in-person witnesses to digital gospel resources to bring the joy of His salvation to everyone so that they can be glad in Him and sing for joy.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
read2 Corinthians 5:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will understand and experience the truth that in Christ, they are a new creation, and the old has gone and the new has come.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Azerbaijani, Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 100675) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

9 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniNetherlands7,500Unengaged and UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniShia Islam
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniGeorgia259,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniShia Islam
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniAzerbaijan9,615,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniShia Islam
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniKazakhstan95,000Unengaged and UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniShia Islam
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniKyrgyzstan17,500Unengaged and UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniShia Islam
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniTurkmenistan62,000Unengaged and UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniShia Islam
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniUzbekistan82,500Unengaged and UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniShia Islam
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniGermany15,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniSunni Islam
AzerbaijaniAzerbaijaniUnited States26,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorth AzerbaijaniShia 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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