February 3, 2025 • Jeremy Koering

2025 Christian Missionary Statistics

See the latest 2025 Christian missionary statistics and trends.

Help Reach The Nations

Join 750+ generous supporters that are reaching the nations.

Christian Missionary Statistics – Andy Ziesemer serving in Pakistan

Our priority at Nations Outreach is to send Christian missionaries to the mission field. Over the last decade, we’ve seen a massive change to Christian missionary work, reflecting socio-political changes, and cultural shifts around the globe.

In this article, I’ll provide the latest Christian missionaries statistics for 2025. In these numbers, you’ll see how the mission field has changed over the last couple of decades, and where there are positive signs of growth.

Population & Christianity Stats

Beyond obeying Jesus command to go and make disciples, analyzing population and religion statistics can help us better understand the need for missionaries. Since we last updated this post in 2024, the world’s population has grown over 100 million people, but many of the stats about Christianity and faith remain unchanged.

World Population (as of February 2025)

What’s the world’s current population?

There are over 8.2 billion people in the world today, according to the Worldometer.

Top 10 Most Populous Countries:

  1. India: 1.4+ billion
  2. China: 1.4+ billion
  3. USA: 346+ million
  4. Indonesia: 284+ million
  5. Pakistan: 253+ million
  6. Nigeria: 235+ million
  7. Brazil: 212+ million
  8. Bangladesh: 174+ million
  9. Russia: 144+ million
  10. Ethiopia: 134+ million

Data collected on February 3, 2024.

of the world’s population identify as Christian.

How many Christians are there?

Based on a study by Pew Research, 31% of the world’s population identify as Christian (which includes Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and other denominations).

Top World Religions:

  • 31% – Christian: 50% are Catholic, 37% Protestant, 12% Orthodox, and 1% other.
  • 23% – Muslim: 87-90% are Sunnis, 10-13% Shia.
  • 16% – None: includes atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion.
  • 15% – Hindu
  • 7% – Buddhist
  • 6% – Folk Religions: faiths that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe.
  • 1% – Other: Baha’i faith, Taoism, Jainism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, Zoroastrianism, etc.
  • 0.2% – Jew

of the world’s population have never heard of Jesus.

How many people have heard the gospel?

It’s estimated that 3.4 billion people have never heard the gospel of Jesus. That’s nearly half (42.4%) of the world’s population. This includes those living in areas with little to no access to the Bible, churches, or Christian resources.

of unreached people are in the 10/40 Window

Where are the most unreached people?

The majority of unreached people live in the 10/40 Window. This region, spanning from North Africa to East Asia, is home to the largest concentration of people who have never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus.

It’s estimated 96.6% of those who have never heard the gospel live in this region. One of our main focuses at Nations Outreach is reaching these unreached people groups through our partnerships with missionaries working in this area. Currently, we have missionaries in Kosovo and Pakistan, sharing the gospel and planting churches.

of the world’s population do not have the bible translated in their native language.

How many people don’t have bibles?

One in five people on earth do not have a bible in their own language. There is an estimated 1.5 billion people who have little to no access to God’s word in a language they can understand.

Missionary Stats

Here are some quick missionary stats:

missionaries on the mission field.

How many missionaries are there?

There’s an estimated 430,000 missionaries currently serving full-time on the mission field. In the study that discovered this number, they defined a missionary as someone serving over two years as a self-described Christian missionary. This includes Catholics, Protestants, and other denominations. This number is down sharply from 1,135,000 missionaries in 2001.

Note: Nations Outreach is an evangelical non-denominational ministry. The number of evangelical missionaries is far lower.

of missionaries serve 5 years or less.

How long do missionaries serve?

Nearly 50% of all missionaries serve 5 years or less on the mission field. Serving in a foreign country is a commitment – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Culture shock, language barriers, and homesickness are all very real challenges that missionaries face.

This is why it’s so important for them to have a strong support system in place.

Our mission statement is Care for people and tell their story. Our priority is caring for our missionaries. We do this through regular communication, prayer, and meeting them in-person on the mission field.

of missionaries leave the mission field for preventable reasons.

Why do missionaries quit?

Did you know that 71% of the time a missionary leaves the mission field, it’s for a preventable reason?

At Nations Outreach, we strongly encourage going to the field and caring for missionaries in-person. Whether its one of our team members or a pastor, friend, or family member, we always urge people to go and support missionaries on the field.

We provide missionaries with tutorials and courses that teaches them how to fundraise at churches, use social media to generate donations, and help them increase their financial support to help sustain their ministry abroad.

people groups are unreached in the world.

Which countries are missionaries needed?

Christian missionaries are needed everywhere–including your home community.

But in terms of those who haven’t had the opportunity to hear the gospel, there’s an estimated 7,290 unreached people groups in the world, meaning there are no indigenous Christians living within the community.

Over 6,000 of these unreached people groups are located inside the 10/40 Window.

These are the most unreached populations in 2025:

  • India – 1,352,947,000
  • Pakistan – 236,972,000
  • Indonesia – 193,937,000
  • Bangladesh – 172,173,000
  • China – 140,553,000
  • Japan – 120,652,000
  • Iran – 88,612,000
  • Turkey – 85,014,000
  • Nigeria – 68,296,000
  • Thailand – 61,585,000

How you can help

Our mission at Nations Outreach is to make it easy for people to get involved with global missions and see stories about what God is doing around the world.

There are many ways to support missionaries serving in the field. You can pray, give financially, go on a short-term mission trip, or volunteer your time and skills to help with various projects and needs.

You May Also Like

22 Bible Verses About Missions & Missionaries
9 Ways How To Support Missionaries
How can I become a missionary?
The Ultimate Guide To Christian Missions
What do Christian missionaries do?