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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portuguese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Español | Tagalog / Filipino
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The Sarikoli Tajiks of China

The Sarikoli Tajiks of China, numbering approximately 20,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnic group primarily associated with the Sarikoli language, a member of the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. They mostly adhere to Shia Imami Ismaili Islam and Sarikoli is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Sarikoli Tajik

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: China
People Cluster: Tajik
Primary Language(s): Sarikoli (srh)
Primary Religion(s): Shia Imami Ismaili Islam
Population: 20,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources
People Group ID: PG024997
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Pray for the Sarikoli Tajiks of China

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: Shia Imami Ismaili Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Shia Imami Ismaili Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sarikoli
Language Family: Indo-European

80%
%
Sarikoli Speakers

Media Resources in Sarikoli:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sarikoli:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sarikoli 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): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources (GSEC: 0), there are no evangelical Christians or churches among this people group and there is no access to evangelical print, audio, visual or human resources

Next steps for the Sarikoli Tajiks:
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 Sarikoli Tajiks of China

Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.
readIsaiah 45:24

Pray that those who are weary and burdened by their own righteousness will find rest in the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ alone.

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
read1 John 4:21

Pray that the good news of God's love will reach everyone in this people group, and that His love will compel them to love others as Christ has loved us.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
read2 Corinthians 5:18

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will serve as God's ambassadors, sharing the message of reconciliation with others.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readMatthew 9:37-38

Pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up believers to send out into His harvest field, which is ripe and ready.

Tajik, Sarikoli Across Countries (ROP3 - 114322) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▲
Sarikoli TajiksPG024997Sarikoli TajiksChina20,500Unengaged and UnreachedSarikoliShia Imami Ismaili 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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