The Croats of Austria

The Croats of Austria, numbering approximately 71,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a South Slavic people native to Croatia and neighboring regions of the western Balkans, whose culture has been shaped by the interaction of Central European, Mediterranean, and Balkan traditions, as well as a long association with Roman Catholicism. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Croatian is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Austria
People Cluster: Slav, Southern
Primary Language(s): Croatian (hrv)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 71,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000012
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Croats of Austria

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: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

80%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Croatian
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Croatian Speakers

Media Resources in Croatian:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Croatian:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Knjiga O Kristu✓
Vuk Karadzic version✓

2 entries

Or check out the Croatian 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): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% or Greater but Less than 0.5% 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 Croats:
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 Croats of Austria

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
readActs 4:12

Pray that those walking in darkness among them will come to know the name by which they must be saved, and call upon Him in faith.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
readPsalm 57:11

Pray that the lost will learn about God's great love and faithfulness so that they might trust in Christ for their salvation.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.
readActs 4:29

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and face rejection by unbelievers in their communities, God will give them discernment, boldness, and encouragement to speak His Word.

And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
readMatthew 25:40

Ask God to raise up and send believers who will serve "the least of these" with compassion and energy because they know that in serving those in need, they are serving Christ.

Croat Across Countries (ROP3 - 102315) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

10 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
CroatsCroatsCroatia3,625,000Engaged yet UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsBosnia and Herzegovina505,000Engaged yet UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsGermany416,000Engaged yet UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsUnited States190,000Engaged yet UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsSlovenia77,500Unengaged and UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsAustria71,500Unengaged and UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsAustralia57,000Engaged yet UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsSweden9,300Unengaged and UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsMontenegro6,900Unengaged and UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism
CroatsCroatsNorth Macedonia2,400Engaged yet UnreachedCroatianRoman Catholicism

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