WORLD-WIDE POPULATION

GLOBAL (updated FEB 2024)

  • 8.12 billion

  • Median age - total: 30 years

  • Life expectancy - total population: 67 years

TOP TEN MOST POPULOUS COUNTRIES

  • India 1.43 billion

  • China 1.42 billion

  • United States 341 Million

  • Indonesia 279 Million

  • Pakistan 243 Million

  • Nigeria 227 Million

  • Brazil 217 Million

  • Bangladesh 173 Million

  • Russia 144 Million

  • Mexico 129 Million

LITERACY - Total Population: 87% 

SOURCES

Global Stats, https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ , accessed Nov 2021

Literacy, CIA World Fact book Nov 2021

WORLDWIDE

  • Total People Groups: 17,281

UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS

  • Less than 2% Evangelical Christian.

  • Total Unreached People Groups: 7,246

  • Total Population of UPGs: 3.39 billion people

  • Total Percentage of world: UPG’s make up 41.8% of world population

UNEVANGELIZED PEOPLES

  • Greater than 2% Evangelical Christian but still great numbers of unsaved.

  • Total Unevangelized People Groups: 2,906

  • Total Population: 799.7 million

  • Total Percentage of world: the unevangelized make up 9.9% of world population

REACHED PEOPLES

  • Greater than 2% Evangelical Christian or majority Christian Population

  • Total Reached People Groups: 7,129

  • Total Population: 3.8 billion

  • Total Percentage of world: the reached population makes up 46.9% of world population

SOURCES

Joshua Project: https://www.joshuaproject.net/people_groups/statistics , Accessed Nov 2024

Another great overview from IMB, People Groups Info

WHAT IS THE 10/40 WINDOW?

Most (96.6%) of the world's unreached people are located geographically in what some scholars call The 10/40 Window from West Africa across Asia between 10 degrees latitude north of the equator to 40 degrees north.

Total Population in 10/40: 5.33 billion people

Total People Groups in 10/40: 8,731 people groups

Total UPG’s in 10/40: 6,013 Unreached People Groups totaling 3.28 billion people.

60% of unreached people groups live in countries closed to missionaries from North America.

Over 1,000 unreached people groups are NOT in the 10/40 Window, these total over 82 million individuals.

SOURCES:

Nov 2021, joshuaproject.net

WORLD RELIGIONS AND THEIR PEOPLE GROUPS

 

ISLAM

  • 1.98 Billion worldwide

  • 4,031 Total People Groups

  • 3,462 UPG’s

  • 24.8% of the world population

BUDDHISM

  • 505,432,000 individuals

  • 666 People Groups

  • 511 UPGs

  • 6.3% of world population

CHRISTIAN

  • 2.5 Billion worldwide (all Catholic, Protestant)

  • 7,146 Total People Groups

  • 31.2% of the world population

ANIMISM

  • 738 Million worldwide

  • 2,625 People Groups

  • 923 UPGs

  • 9.2% of the world population

HINDUISM

  • 1.2 Billion worldwide

  • 2,395 People Groups

  • 2,203 UPG’s

  • 15.1% of the world population

CHINA

  • 1.8 billion individuals

  • 545 people groups

  • 441 Unreached People Groups

  • 17.7% of the world population

SOURCES

Joshua Project: https://www.joshuaproject.net/people_groups/statistics , Accessed Nov 2024

ALL CHRISTIANS

Christians number 2.632 Billion worldwide (all Catholic, Protestant, etc.,) within 7,129 total people groups compromising 32% of the world population.

This may surprise many, but Christianity is growing around the world and is growing faster than the rate of population. From 2020 to the mid-point of 2024, the world’s population is expected to grow from almost 6.15 billion people to more than 8.11 billion, a 0.87% growth trend. The number of Christians worldwide is expected to climb from more than 2.52 billion to 2.63 billion, a 1.08% growth. (Lifeway Research)


PROTESTANTS & EVANGELICALS

Protestants total 625 million worldwide and Evangelical Christians total 413 million.

In 2020 there were 550 churches for every one unreached people group. (Lifeway Research)

There are 57,000 Evangelical Christians for every one unreached people group.


SOURCES

Gordon Conwell


TOTAL LANGUAGES: 

There are estimated 7,394 Languages worldwide.

Three Largest languages:  

Mandarin Chinese 12.44%, Spanish 4.85%, English 4.83%, (first language speakers)

BIBLE TRANSLATION:

  • 736 languages have the Full Bible, 5.6 billion people, 80% of the world

  • 1,658 languages have the New Testament, 824 million, 11% of the world

  • 3,658 languages have some portion of Scripture, 7.23 billion people, 97.4% of the world

LANGUAGES WITH SCRIPTURE NEED:

  • 6,661 languages do not have the Full Bible, 1.5 billion people

  • 3,736 languages have no Bible portions, (1,100 of these language translations are not needed for various reasons)

  • 3,283 languages have current Bible Translation work happening, for 1.15 billion people, 15% of the world.

SOURCES:

Wycliffe Bible Translators, Feb 2024

International students

There are over 1 million international students in the U.S each year.

In 2023 there were over 778,000 internationals coming from 10/40 Window countries. This amounts to 78% of all international students in the US representing areas with limited access to the gospel. Open Doors


UNREACHED NATIONS WITH TOP STUDENT POPULATION IN US:  

  • China (290K)

  • India (268K)

  • Vietnam (21K)

  • Taiwan (21K)

  • Saudi Arabia (16K)

  • Japan (16K)

  • Nepal (15K)

  • Bangladesh (13K)

Why reach out to internationals?

80% of those students will return to their countries having never been invited to an American home.

40% of the world's 220 Heads of State once studied in the US.

Only 10% of international students are reached by ministries while in the United States.

“It is estimated that by the year 2025, 50% of all world leaders will have been international students. Currently, there are over 1.3 million international students studying in the US, and over 4.5 million studying worldwide today.” - https://internationalstudents.org

SOURCE:

Open Doors Report

STEWARDSHIP WITHIN CHRISTIANITY

WHAT CHRISTIANS EARN: 

Annual Income of all Church Members: $70 trillion. [1]

WHAT CHRISTIANS GIVE:

Only 1.86% is “tithed” to any Christian causes:  $1.3 trillion. [1]

“Americans have recently spent more money buying Halloween costumes for their pets than the amount given to reach the unreached.”
— Claude Hickman

HOW ARE MINISTRY DONATIONS USED:

  • 82% goes to Home ministries of local churches (mostly Christian nations):  $1 trillion [2]

  • 12% goes to Home Evangelism in same Christian nations:  $156 billion [2]

  • Only 6% of this “tithe” goes to general Missions:  $78 billion

WHAT MISSIONS MONEY IS USED TO REACH THE UNREACHED?

  • Only 1.7% of “Missions Giving” goes to work among Unreached Peoples   Estimated $1.32 billion (1.7% of the $78b for general “missions”) [3]

  • For every $100,000 that Christians make, they give $1.83 to the unreached.

“If you were in a ballroom with a fifty foot ceiling and the ceiling represented what Christians earned, you could stand two dollar bills, end to end, 12” from the floor to represent what Christians tithe. But to see how little is used for the unreached you would have to stack both bills and lay them flat. (roughly 1/2 mm). ”
— Claude Hickman
 

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS

  • If we sent mission teams of ten people to each of the 7,246 unreached people groups with an annual salary of $70,000 a year. Christians worldwide could provide all of the funds needed to reach all peoples with only 0.007% of their income ($5b). The Global Church has roughly 14,000 times the financial resources and 36,000 times the manpower needed to finish the Great Commission.

  • If every Christian gave $1.93 cents to frontier missions we could easily support 72,000 new missionaries.

  • If every Christian gave just 1% of their income to frontier mission, we could support another 10 million missionaries.

 

SOURCES:

[1] Gordon Conwell, 2024 Download "Status of Global Christianity

*also: International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 39, No. 1,  also World Christian Database, 2015,*Barrett and Johnson. 2001. World Christian Trends, pg 656,

[2] Todd M. Johnson & Gina A. Zurlo, eds. World Christian Database. Leiden/Boston: Brill, accessed July 2017.

*see also: Todd Johnson, Global Atlas of Christianity, pg 296, 

[3].  World Christian Trends Table. David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson. World Christian Trends Table 20-3, lines 23-26,44, Pasadena, Calif: William Carey Library, 2001 *Experts and authors above have determined this trend holds true today as of 2022.

QUOTES:

Just a few years ago we spent more in America on Halloween Costumes.

ALL MISSIONARIES

  • All Missionaries in the World (Catholic, Protestant, etc.): 445,000 foreign missionaries [1]

  • Missionaries in the Reached World : 343,000 foreign missionaries (77%) [estimated]

  • Missionaries in the Unevangelized : 86,000 foreign missionaries (19%) [estimated]

  • Missionaries in the Unreached : estimated 15,000 foreign missionaries (3.4%) [2]

 

30:1

“Roughly thirty-times as many missionaries go to Reached people groups to work with Christians, as go to Unreached People Groups. Far less go to the Frontier People Groups, where there are as yet no believers. - R.W. Lewis [3]

 

CHRISTIAN WORKERS

  • Full time Christian Nationals Workers: 13.5 million workers [1]


MORE MISSIONS OBSERVATIONS

  • Only 1 of every 174,463 Christians goes as a missionary to the Unreached.

  • Only 1 of every 41,707 Protestant Christians goes as a missionary to the Unreached.

  • There are 57,053 Evangelical Christians for every one unreached people group.

  • Young people have traditionally led the way in going and there are roughly 21 million university students (2014).


CONCLUSION

Is God to blame for not "Calling" People to Missions?

If everyone is obeying God’s “calling” to be a missionary wherever they are then God is apparently calling 99.9995% of people to work among the half of the world population that already has the gospel, and calling virtually no one (.0006%) to relocate among the other half of the world population that are not Christian. You have a better chance of being in a plane crash than being one of the few missionaries to the unreached.

In light of God’s word, this seems unfathomable and it appears to be almost complete disobedience on the part of the Church worldwide to go make disciples of all the nations. Financially we are hoarding 99.99% of our income to ourselves and what little is given is mostly directed toward reached people groups.

The current status quo is to do virtually nothing to reach the UPG’s of the world. The percentages of man-power and money focused on UPG’s are almost undetectable they are so small. The amount of resources that fall off the Christian table for unreached peoples is more comparable ( we googled it…) with the number of skin cells you lose over a month’s time: something hardly worth calling a sacrifice of the body.


 
“Reaching the world with the gospel is not a resource problem, it is a mobilization problem. ”
— Claude Hickman, The Traveling Team
 


 

SOURCES

[1] Center for Study of Global Christianity, Gordon Conwell 2024 Status update, See also World Christian Database, 2015,*Barrett and Johnson. 2001. World Christian Trends, pg 656

[2] *15,000 is the latest number for 2024, See also Todd M. Johnson and Gina A. Zurlo, eds., World Christian Database(Leiden/Boston: Brill, accessed January 2022

[3] 2018, [R.W. Lewis Quote] International Journal of Frontier Mission, Clarifying the Remaining Frontier Mission Task, by R. W. Lewis, issue 35:4 Winter 2018, p164

See also Atlas of Global Christianity 2009.   And 2001, Deployment of Missionaries

 
 
 
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