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The Northern Pashtuns of Canada

The Northern Pashtuns of Canada, numbering approximately 33,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Eastern Iranian ethnolinguistic group indigenous to southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Northern Pashto is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Persian-Median Peoples
Country: Canada
People Cluster: Pashtun
Primary Language(s): Northern Pashto (pbu)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 33,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG050498
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Pray for the Northern Pashtuns of Canada

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Northern Pashto
Language Family: Indo-European

75%
%
Pashto, Northern Speakers

Media Resources in Northern Pashto:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

5 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Northern Pashto:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Revised Yousafzai Pashto Bible 2020✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Northern Pashto bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Northern Pashtuns 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 Northern Pashtuns:
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 Northern Pashtuns of Canada

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
readMatthew 28:16-20

Pray that those who don't yet know Him will encounter the risen Savior and be transformed by the power of His resurrection, becoming disciples who make disciples.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
readJohn 8:12

Pray that many will come to know Jesus, the light of the world, and have the light of life instead of walking in darkness.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
readRomans 10:13

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and sometimes have doubts, God will help them remember and trust the power of Jesus to save them from their sins.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
read2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will serve others in Jesus' name, and the lost will have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel.

Pashtun, Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 107909) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▲Religion
Northern PashtunsPG012231Northern PashtunsUnited Arab Emirates664,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG024390Northern PashtunsPakistan19,250,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG024585Northern PashtunsTurkiye6,700Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Eastern PashtunsPG043767Eastern PashtunsAfghanistan2,820,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG047285Northern PashtunsUnited States25,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni Islam
Northern PashtunsPG050498Northern PashtunsCanada33,500Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern PashtoSunni 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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