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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Altai of Russian Federation

The Altai of Russian Federation, numbering approximately 74,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Russia. They mostly adhere to Shamanism and Southern Altai is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Altai

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Russian Federation
People Cluster: Ural-Siberian
Primary Language(s): Southern Altai (alt)
Primary Religion(s): Shamanism
Population: 74,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042313
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Pray for the Altai 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Shamanism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

40%
%
Shamanism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Southern Altai
Language Family: Turkic

80%
%
Altai, Southern Speakers

Media Resources in Southern Altai:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Southern Altai:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow✓✓✓
Wycliffe Russia✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Southern Altai bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Altai 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 Altai:
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 Altai 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.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
readPsalm 66:4

Pray that the good news of Jesus will advance here and that many will bow down and sing praises to His name.

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!"
readMark 7:9

Pray that as men, women, boys, and girls place their faith in Christ, they will let go of any traditions that do not honor Him.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
readEphesians 6:11

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will put on the full armor of God so that they will be able to stand against the schemes of the enemy.

Altai Across Countries (ROP3 - 100235) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AltaiPG042313AltaiRussian Federation74,000Engaged yet UnreachedSouthern AltaiShamanism

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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