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The Santal of India

The Santal of India, numbering approximately 9,150,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Austroasiatic-speaking Munda tribal group indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. They mostly adhere to Folk Hinduism and Santali is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Munda-Santal
Primary Language(s): Santali (sat)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 9,150,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG046350
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Pray for the Santal of India

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: Folk Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

92%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Santali
Language Family: Austroasiatic

100%
%
Santhali Speakers

Media Resources in Santali:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Santali:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Santali bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Santal are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Santal:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Santal of India

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
readMatthew 5:16

Pray that those who are deceived about what brings peace will not settle for any lies they’ve heard about God and will diligently seek Him and be satisfied when they learn the truth about who He is and what He’s done.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
readPsalm 96:7

Pray that entire households will come to faith in Jesus and that God will bless their families with faith in Him for generations to come.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
readPsalm 51:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Him, and God will help them to proclaim His praise and declare His goodness all day long.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
readPsalm 8:1

Pray that God will raise up people who love Him and are able and willing to go to and share the hope of the gospel with those who don't know it. Pray that everyone will see His name as majestic in all the earth!

Santal Across Countries (ROP3 - 108674) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
SantalPG046350SantalIndia9,150,000No Longer UnreachedSantaliFolk Hinduism
SantalPG001203SantalBangladesh213,000No Longer UnreachedSantaliProtestantism
SantalPG006289SantalNepal56,000No Longer UnreachedSantaliHinduism
SantalPG001237SantalBhutan2,200No Longer UnreachedSantaliProtestantism

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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