The Telugu of Malaysia

The Telugu of Malaysia, numbering approximately 138,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Telugu-speaking diaspora descended largely from colonial-era labor migrants from coastal Andhra who settled on plantations in British Malaya. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Telugu is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Telugu

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Telugu
Primary Language(s): Telugu (tel)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 138,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009356
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Telugu of Malaysia

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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

85%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Telugu
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%
Telugu Speakers

Media Resources in Telugu:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

4 films

Bible Resources in Telugu:

Or check out the Telugu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Telugu 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 Telugu:
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 Telugu of Malaysia

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that those who live in fear, guilt and discontentment because of sin will see their need for change, hear, and receive the good news of freedom from sin through Christ.

Moses said, "Please show me your glory." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."
readExodus 33:18-19

Pray that many will come to know the glory of God, which is revealed in Jesus Christ, and that they will rejoice in the mercy He offers them.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 6:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will lay down all evil desires, dying to sin and living for Him alone.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
readActs 13:47

Pray that as people come to faith, they will follow the Lord's leading to go to their neighbors and share the treasure they found in Christ.

Telugu Across Countries (ROP3 - 109930) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

10 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TeluguTeluguSingapore850No Longer UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguTeluguKuwait850Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguTeluguBangladesh12,000Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguTeluguSri Lanka13,000No Longer UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguTeluguCanada17,500Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguTeluguBahrain34,500Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguTeluguMalaysia138,000No Longer UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguTeluguMyanmar271,000Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguFolk Hinduism
TeluguTeluguUnited States429,000Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism
TeluguTeluguUnited Arab Emirates520,000Engaged yet UnreachedTeluguHinduism

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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