Sri Lanka people groups, languages and religions

Country: Province: District:

People Groups Unreached

54 (42.5%)

People Groups Unreached Frontier

37 (29.1%)

Population
Total

23,142,000

Population in Unreached

3,976,000 (17.2%)

Population in Unreached Frontier

3,051,000 (13.2%)

* Data can be from various sources including official census, agencies, and local research. Data from these sources can sometimes differ even by orders of magnitude. Joshua Project attempts to present a conservative, balanced estimate.

Map Notes

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
People Group	Population this Ctry	Population Global	Count Ctrys	Indigenous	Primary Language	Primary Religion	Progress Scale	% Evangelical Range	% Christian Adh Range	Workers Needed *
Semman	1,300	6,600	2	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	5-10% ●	-1 -
Shaikh	220,000	104,879,000	8	●	Tamil	Islam	0	0-0.1% ●	0-0.1% ●	4
Silpi	3,700	227,000	2	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	10-50% ●	-1 -
Sindhi (Muslim traditions)	1,100	172,000	4	●	Sindhi	Islam	0	0-0.1% ●	0-0.1% ●	1
Sonar (Hindu traditions)	6,800	8,528,000	5	●	Tamil	Hinduism	1	-1 Unknown	0.1-2% ●	1
Sri Lanka Chetti	6,900	6,900	1	●	Tamil	Hinduism	0	0-0.1% ●	0-0.1% ●	1
Sri Lanka Moor	745,000	745,000	1	●	Tamil	Islam	0	0-0.1% ●	0-0.1% ●	15
Tamil (Hindu traditions)	55,000	3,730,000	25	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	10-50% ●	-1 -
Tamil (Muslim traditions)	1,244,000	4,640,000	2	●	Tamil	Islam	0	0-0.1% ●	0-0.1% ●	25
Tattar	6,400	6,400	1	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	10-50% ●	-1 -
Teli (Hindu traditions)	5,200	20,818,000	5	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	5-10% ●	-1 -
Thacher	3,400	3,400	1	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	5-10% ●	-1 -
Thanakavar	2,700	2,700	1	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	5-10% ●	-1 -
Thimilar	23,000	23,000	1	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	10-50% ●	-1 -
Tondagattan	1,600	1,600	1	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	0	0-0.1% ●	0-0.1% ●	1
Valluvan	3,300	127,000	2	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	5-10% ●	-1 -
Vaniyan	19,000	1,029,000	2	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	10-50% ●	-1 -
Vannan (Christian traditions)	4,100	162,000	2	●	Tamil	Christianity	3	-1 Unknown	50-100% ●	-1 -
Vannan (Hindu traditions)	46,000	991,000	2	●	Tamil	Hinduism	0	0-0.1% ●	0-0.1% ●	1
Vanniyan	149,000	13,634,000	2	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	10-50% ●	-1 -
Vellalan	1,314,000	4,062,000	2	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	10-50% ●	-1 -
Vellidura	1,300	1,300	1	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	0	0-0.1% ●	0-0.1% ●	1
Vettar	3,300	3,300	1	●	Tamil	Hinduism	2	-1 Unknown	5-10% ●	-1 -
Viswakarma	7,900	7,006,000	2	●	Tamil	Hinduism	1	-1 Unknown	2-5% ●	1
Wahumpura	8,952,000	8,952,000	1	●	Sinhala	Buddhism	2	-1 Unknown	5-10% ●	-1 -
Totals: 127	23,142,000						54 ◼︎ (37 ✸︎)	0.00 %	7.27 %	111
Unclassified / Other Individuals	206,000
UN Country Population (2026)	23,348,000

58 other minor Sri Lanka groups

Sri Lanka

Very small groups reported, but outside the Joshua Project Small Group Policy. Some may not be viable and/or have incorrect Progress Scale values, population, language and religion information. The groups listed below are not included in overall Joshua Project people group counts. If you have information about these groups, please contact us.

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
People Group ▲	Progress Scale	Population	Primary Language	Primary Religion
Ahmadi	1	100	Urdu	Islam
Ansari	1	1,100	Urdu	Islam
Arain (Muslim traditions)	1	600	Punjabi, Western	Islam
Arayan	2	900	Malayalam	Hinduism
Arora (Hindu traditions)	1	500	Punjabi, Eastern	Hinduism
Bagdi (Hindu traditions)	1	500	Bengali	Hinduism
Bairagi (Hindu traditions)	1	400	Bengali	Hinduism
Baloch	1	900	Urdu	Islam
Banjara (Hindu traditions)	1	800	Hindi	Hinduism
Bauri	1	300	Bengali	Hinduism
Bengali Muslim Moghal	1	1,200	Urdu	Islam
Bohra	1	2,100	Gujarati	Islam
Darzi (Hindu traditions)	1	200	Hindi	Hinduism
Gujar (Hindu traditions)	1	300	Punjabi, Eastern	Hinduism
Gujar (Muslim traditions)	1	200	Punjabi, Eastern	Islam
Japanese	1	2,500	Japanese	Buddhism
Jat (Hindu traditions)	1	1,700	Punjabi, Eastern	Hinduism
Jat (Muslim traditions)	1	1,900	Punjabi, Western	Islam
Jat (Sikh traditions)	1	400	Punjabi, Eastern	Other / Small
Jogi (Hindu traditions)	1	500	Bengali	Hinduism
Kadaiyar	2	1,000	Tamil	Hinduism
Kapu	1	1,500	Telugu	Hinduism
Kayastha (Hindu traditions)	1	300	Bengali	Hinduism
Khatri (Hindu traditions)	1	300	Punjabi, Eastern	Hinduism
Koli (Hindu traditions)	1	100	Gujarati	Hinduism
Kumhar (Hindu traditions)	2	500	Tamil	Hinduism
Kunbi (Hindu traditions)	1	400	Hindi	Hinduism
Kuravan (Christian traditions)	3	500	Tamil	Christianity
Kurmi (Hindu traditions)	1	400	Bengali	Hinduism
Lohar (Hindu traditions)	1	900	Hindi	Hinduism
Madappalli	2	800	Tamil	Hinduism
Madari (Muslim traditions)	1	500	Urdu	Islam
Madiga (Hindu traditions)	1	300	Telugu	Hinduism
Mahishya	1	600	Bengali	Hinduism
Mahratta	1	300	Marathi	Hinduism
Mala (Hindu traditions)	1	300	Telugu	Hinduism
Malabar Catholic	3	300	Malayalam	Christianity
Malayali	2	800	Malayalam	Hinduism
Mangala	1	700	Telugu	Hinduism
Nair	1	4,400	Tamil	Hinduism
Namassej (Hindu traditions)	1	600	Bengali	Hinduism
Parsee	1	700	Gujarati	Other / Small
Persian	1	100	Persian, Iranian	Islam
Pinjara	1	200	Urdu	Islam
Pod	1	200	Bengali	Hinduism
Rajbansi (Hindu traditions)	1	200	Bengali	Hinduism
Rajput (Hindu traditions)	1	2,400	Hindi	Hinduism
Rajput (Muslim traditions)	1	1,600	Punjabi, Western	Islam
Rajput (Sikh traditions)	1	200	Hindi	Other / Small
Siviyar	2	500	Tamil	Hinduism
Somalia	1	100	Somali	Islam
Syrian Christian	3	700	Malayalam	Christianity
Tanti (Hindu traditions)	1	300	Bengali	Hinduism
Thurumber	2	1,000	Tamil	Hinduism
Tili	1	200	Bengali	Hinduism
Vaddar (Hindu traditions)	1	200	Telugu	Hinduism
Vedda	2	300	Sinhala	Christianity
Velakkithalanayan	2	700	Malayalam	Hinduism
Totals: 58

For more information see the Joshua Project Small Group Policy

* An estimate of the number of pioneer workers needed for initial church planting among unreached people groups by country. Estimates are calculated only for unreached people groups and are based on ratio of 1 worker-unit (single person or married couple) per 50,000 living in an unreached people group by country, or for example one team of four worker-units per 200,000 people. Some workers may already be onsite. Many more workers are needed beyond this initial estimate.

Download Sources Definitions

Prayer Cards

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Province ▲	Population	People Groups	Unreached Groups	% Unreached Peoples	Population in Unreached	% Population Unreached	Districts
Central	2,870,000	128	50	39.1 %	716,000	24.9 %	3
Eastern	1,740,000	109	35	32.1 %	688,000	39.5 %	3
North Central	1,395,000	83	31	37.3 %	184,000	13.2 %	2
North Western	2,637,000	104	39	37.5 %	437,000	16.6 %	2
Northern	1,220,000	86	32	37.2 %	113,000	9.3 %	5
Sabaragamuwa	2,149,000	121	48	39.7 %	306,000	14.2 %	2
Southern	2,743,000	113	38	33.6 %	111,000	4.0 %	3
Uva	1,415,000	117	44	37.6 %	237,000	16.7 %	2
Western	6,780,000	127	45	35.4 %	910,000	13.4 %	3
Country:	23,142,000	127	54	42.5 %	3,976,000	17.2 %	25

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Language ▲	Code	# Peoples w/ this Primary Language	# Unreached w/ this Primary Language	Scripture Status	YouVersion Bible Resources	Faith Comes By Hearing Bible Resources	Jesus Film Online	Global Recordings Resources	God's Story Resources	Gospel Tract Online
Arabic, Mesopotamian	acm	1	1	4 New Testament	1	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Gujarati	guj	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1	1
Javanese	jav	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1	1
Konkani	knn	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1	-1
Language Unknown	xxx	1	0	Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Malayalam	mal	2	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1	1
Maldivian	div	1	1	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	1	-1
Morisyen	mfe	1	0	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	-1	-1
Sindhi	snd	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Sinhala	sin	44	16	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1	1
Sri Lankan Malay Creole	sci	1	1	2 Translation Started	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Sri Lankan Sign Language	sqs	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Tamil	tam	69	28	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1	1
Telugu	tel	2	2	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	1	1
Totals:	14	127	54		10	11	11	11	7	6

Networking Possibilities

MissionNext - connect with mission agencies or schools worldwide
The Mission App - connecting you to mission agencies that match your calling
Linking Global Voices - networks and global collaboration for followers of Christ
visionSynergy - developing high impact missional networks
GetInvolved - frontier people group (FPGs) prayer communities

Search the Web
There are many agencies and churches looking for additional staff to help them in their mission and calling in Sri Lanka. Internet searches may be a possible way to find these organizations. The following are some example search topics you might try:

Church planting agencies in Sri Lanka
Christian ministry in Sri Lanka
Business as mission
Christian literature distribution
Evangelism agencies
Christian discipleship
Short term Christian missions

Long term Christian missions
Urban ministries
Christian media opportunities
Bible translation opportunities
Relief and development agencies
Clean water projects
Christian medical outreaches

Sri Lanka Statistics
People Groups	127
Unreached People Groups	54 (42.5%)
Population	23,142,000
Population Annual Growth Rate	0.5%
Population in Unreached	3,976,000 (17.2%)
Primary Religion	Buddhism
Percent Christian Adherent	7.3%
Percent Evangelical	Unknown
Pioneer Workers Needed *	111
Country Progress Level
Continent	Asia
Region	Asia, South
10/40 Window	Yes
Country Code	CE
Official Language(s)	Sinhala \| English
Bible Restrictions Rank	75 (1=Highest) Bible Access
Bible Shortage Rank	39 (1=Highest) Bible Access
Literacy Rate	95%
Estimated Illiterate Population	1,157,000
Persecution Ranking	Not ranked

Sri Lanka Maps
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Sri Lanka Prayer Cards
All Unreached

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Stratus Earth Index
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DataReportal Digital Analysis
Prosperity Index
Social Progress Index
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Ethnologue Language Listing
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Sri Lanka Videos
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Level	Description	Criteria
1a	Unreached (Frontier) - Less than 1 in 1,000 (0.1%) identify as Christians in any way. ✸︎	Evangelicals <=0.1% Professing Christians <=0.1%
1b	Unreached (non-Frontier) - Few evangelicals and little, if any, history of Christianity. ◼︎	Evangelicals >0.1% and <=2% Professing Christians >0.1% and <=5%
1	Unreached (All) - Few evangelicals and few who identify as Christians. Little, if any, history of Christianity. ✸︎+◼︎	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians <= 5%
2	Minimally reached - Few evangelicals, but significant number who identify as Christians.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians > 5% and <= 50%
3	Superficially reached - Few evangelicals, but many who identify as Christians. In great need of spiritual renewal and commitment to biblical faith.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians > 50%
4	Partially reached - Evangelicals have a modest to moderate presence.	Evangelicals > 2% and <= 10%
5	Significantly reached - Evangelicals have a significant presence.	Evangelicals > 10%

Country: Province: District:

People Groups
Total

People Groups Unreached

People Groups Unreached Frontier

Population
Total

Population in Unreached

Population in Unreached Frontier

% Christian Adherent

% Evangelical

Progress Scale

Email *
Role *