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The Ossetians of Russian Federation

The Ossetians of Russian Federation, numbering approximately 445,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Eastern Iranian people of the central North Caucasus, concentrated in North Ossetia–Alania and descended linguistically and culturally from the medieval Alans. They mostly adhere to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Iron Ossetic is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Russian Federation
People Cluster: Persian
Primary Language(s): Iron Ossetic (oss)
Primary Religion(s): Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Population: 445,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024475
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Pray for the Ossetians 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

45%
%
Eastern Orthodox Christia… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Iron Ossetic
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Ossetic Speakers

Media Resources in Iron Ossetic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Iron Ossetic:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2002 Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓✓
2004 Institute Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Iron Ossetic bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Ossetians 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 Ossetians:
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 Ossetians of Russian Federation

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
readJohn 8:32

Pray for those who live enslaved to sin to hear and receive the truth of the gospel and be set free.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
readIsaiah 30:21

As the lost in this people group seek to know the truth of who God is, pray that the Spirit of God will draw them to Himself and guide them in the way they should go.

But Jesus called them to him, saying "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God."
readLuke 18:16

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have a burden to share the hope of Christ with children.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
readEphesians 6:10

Ask God to strengthen believers with His mighty power so that as they cross cultures to share the gospel, they will stand firm against the schemes of the enemy.

Ossetian Across Countries (ROP3 - 107699) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
OssetiansPG024475OssetiansRussian Federation445,000Engaged yet UnreachedIron OsseticEastern Orthodox Christianity
OssetiansPG024577OssetiansTurkiye44,500Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni Islam
OssetiansPG024308OssetiansUzbekistan11,000Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni Islam
OssetiansPG024080OssetiansAzerbaijan3,400Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni Islam
OssetiansPG024291OssetiansKazakhstan2,800Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni Islam
OssetiansPG024630OssetiansTurkmenistan2,600Unengaged and UnreachedIron OsseticSunni 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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