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The Persians of Uzbekistan

The Persians of Uzbekistan, numbering approximately 34,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a complex Iranian community shaped by a rich history, multifaceted blend of ancient traditions, cultural heritage, modern influences, Islamic values, and a strong sense of national pride and resilience. They mostly adhere to Shia Islam and Iranian Persian is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Uzbekistan
People Cluster: Persian
Primary Language(s): Iranian Persian (pes)
Primary Religion(s): Shia Islam
Population: 34,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024309
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Pray for the Persians of Uzbekistan

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: Shia Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

95%
%
Shia Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Iranian Persian
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Persian, Iranian Speakers

Media Resources in Iranian Persian:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Iranian Persian:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
New Millenium Version 2009✓
New Millenium Version 2014✓✓
Today's Persian Version✓✓

3 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Iranian Persian bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

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): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% 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 Persians:
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 Persians of Uzbekistan

And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
readMark 14:23-24

Pray for those who may have heard the gospel but have not yet submitted their lives to Christ, that they will finally see the sacrifice which He made for them and surrender their lives to Him.

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
readPsalm 96:3

Pray for people to hear and believe the good news of Jesus and joyfully share it with their family and friends.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

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.

Persian Across Countries (ROP3 - 107987) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

30 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
PersiansPG024002PersiansAfghanistan117,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG050238PersiansIndonesia8,000No Longer UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG050237PersiansSouth Korea3,500No Longer UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG050098PersiansArmenia7,800No Longer UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG049321PersiansMalaysia21,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG047071PersiansGreece2,400No Longer UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG043458PersiansCanada202,000No Longer UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG043278PersiansUnited States467,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG043167PersiansBelgium12,500Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG042479PersiansFrance65,500Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG042331PersiansItaly11,500Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG024581PersiansTurkiye130,000No Longer UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG024309PersiansUzbekistan34,500Unengaged and UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG024197PersiansIran29,510,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG024081PersiansAzerbaijan1,400Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG000034PersiansAustria15,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG022255PersiansNetherlands36,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG020262PersiansAustralia84,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG012247PersiansUnited Arab Emirates557,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG012193PersiansSyria10,000Unengaged and UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG011904PersiansQatar276,000Unengaged and UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG011886PersiansOman16,000Unengaged and UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG011804PersiansKuwait50,000Unengaged and UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG011719PersiansIraq511,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG011304PersiansBahrain225,000Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG009630PersiansNew Zealand7,500Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG006390PersiansPakistan13,000Unengaged and UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG000643PersiansUnited Kingdom86,000No Longer UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG000259PersiansGermany175,000No Longer UnreachedIranian PersianShia Islam
PersiansPG000091PersiansDenmark15,500Engaged yet UnreachedIranian PersianShia 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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