South Asia Fast Facts

“The greatest concentration of lostness on Earth…”

Population*

South Asia	1.6 billion
India	1.2 billion
Pakistan	190 million
Bangladesh	161 million
Nepal	29.8 million
Sri Lanka	21.4 million
Bhutan	716,000
Maldives	394,000
Diaspora (approximate number of South Asians around the world)	27 million

Religion

How many Hindus? How many of these Hindus are Dalits(Untouchables)? 165.7 million	1 billion
How many Muslims?	492 million
How many Tribals/Animists?	10.3 million
How many Buddhists?	29.6 million
How many Sikhs?	23 million
How many Jains?	4.8 million
How many Christians?	32.7 million
How many lost?	1.58 billion
That’s 1.58 billion lost concentrated in an area less than half the size of the United States.

Predominant religion in each country

India	Hinduism (79.8%)
Nepal	Hinduism (80.6%)
Maldives	Islam (99.4%)
Pakistan	Islam (96.4%)
Bangladesh	Islam (85.6%)
Bhutan	Buddhism (75%)
Sri Lanka	Buddhism (70.2%)

South Asian Peoples

South Asian Peoples:total number of people groups	1622
Unengaged Unreached People Groups (UUPG):people groups where no one is working	475
Unreached People Groups:	1319
Total UUPG population:	82.6 million

Personnel

As of January 2013, the IMB has the least number of personnel working with South Asians (greatest concentration of lostness) as compared with all other peoples of the world.

*Estimated population – July 2012 **Updated… March 2013