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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Wakhi of Pakistan

The Wakhi of Pakistan, numbering approximately 17,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are described as an Eastern Iranian ethnic group native to the Pamir Mountains and surrounding high-altitude regions of Central Asia Khik They are an Indigenous people, with Guhjali, Wakhi as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Tajik people cluster of the Persian-Median Peoples. They mostly adhere to Shia Islam and Wakhi is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Pakistan
People Cluster: Tajik
Primary Language(s): Wakhi (wbl)
Primary Religion(s): Shia Islam
Population: 17,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046991
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Pray for the Wakhi of Pakistan

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 Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Shia Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wakhi
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Wakhi Speakers

Media Resources in Wakhi:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Wakhi:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Wakhi 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 Wakhi:
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 Wakhi of Pakistan

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
readPsalm 47:7

Pray for those who live for idols that will never satisfy their hearts, asking that someone will tell them that God is the King of all the earth so that they will turn to Him in repentance and praise.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
readLuke 9:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will meditate on the stories of Jesus' miracles, be in awe of Him, and trust Him for everything they need.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
readMark 1:17-18

Pray that God will raise up believers from this place and/or other cultures nearby to proclaim the gospel to those who desperately need to encounter it.

Khik (Wakhi) Across Countries (ROP3 - 103535) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▼PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
WakhiPG024517WakhiTajikistan17,000Engaged yet UnreachedWakhiShia Islam
WakhiPG046991WakhiPakistan17,000Unengaged and UnreachedWakhiShia Islam
WakhiPG046999WakhiChina9,600Unengaged and UnreachedWakhiShia Islam
WakhiPG023984WakhiAfghanistan17,000Engaged yet UnreachedWakhiShia 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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