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The Uzbeks of Afghanistan

The Uzbeks of Afghanistan, numbering approximately 4,475,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Turkic ethnolinguistic people of Central Asia whose identity emerged through a long process of interaction and integration among Turkic, Iranian, and Mongol populations in the region. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Southern Uzbek is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Afghanistan
People Cluster: Uzbek
Primary Language(s): Southern Uzbek (uzs)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 4,475,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024028
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Pray for the Uzbeks of Afghanistan

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Southern Uzbek
Language Family: Turkic

99%
%
Uzbek, Southern Speakers

Media Resources in Southern Uzbek:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Southern Uzbek:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Southern Uzbek bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Uzbeks 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 Uzbeks:
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 Uzbeks of Afghanistan

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
read1 John 4:10

Pray for those without the hope of Christ to understand the depth of God's love and the sacrifice He made for them.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
readJames 4:4

Pray that the lost will be convicted of their friendship with the world, which is hostility toward God, and that they will turn from their sin and embrace the grace and mercy of God through Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
readHebrews 10:35

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hold unswervingly to their faith and to their confidence in Christ, which has a great reward.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Uzbek, Southern (Afghan Uzbek) Across Countries (ROP3 - 110472) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
UzbeksPG024028UzbeksAfghanistan4,475,000Engaged yet UnreachedSouthern UzbekSunni Islam
UzbeksPG024394UzbeksPakistan993,000Engaged yet UnreachedSouthern UzbekSunni Islam
UzbeksPG024602UzbeksTurkiye623,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern UzbekSunni Islam
UzbeksPG043674UzbeksUnited States27,000Engaged yet UnreachedSouthern UzbekSunni 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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