The Buryat of Russian Federation

The Buryat of Russian Federation, numbering approximately 461,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Mongolic ethnic group indigenous to southeastern Siberia They are an Indigenous people, with Buriat (Buryat) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Mongolian people cluster of the East Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Tibetan Buddhism. They primarily speak Buriat, Russia.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: East Asian Peoples
Country: Russian Federation
People Cluster: Mongolian
Primary Language(s): Buriat, Russia (bxr)
Primary Religion(s): Tibetan Buddhism
Population: 461,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000905
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Buryat 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Tibetan Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

48%
%
Tibetan Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Buriat, Russia
Language Family: Mongolic-Khitan

75%
%
Buriat, Russia Speakers

Bible Resources in Buriat, Russia:

Or check out the Buriat, Russia bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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 Active 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 Buryat:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Buryat 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 Buryat:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Buryat 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 Buryat:
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 Buryat of Russian Federation

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God".
readRomans 3:10-11

Pray that God will have mercy on those living in broken relationship with Him, and that He will bring many to surrender and repentance at the throne of grace.

For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God!
readDeuteronomy 32:3

Pray that believers will proclaim the Lord’s name and declare the greatness of our God so that others might believe in Him.

And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that having sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
read2 Corinthians 9:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will see that God provides for their needs and be content in His provision so that they may excel in every good work.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
readRevelation 7:9-10

Pray that the promise in Revelation 7:9-10 will encourage believers from among them or from nearby people groups to share the gospel with people who have never learned it.

Buriat, Russia Across Countries (ROP3 - 115059) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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