What is the world’s population? How many people in the world are unreached? What percentage of money given to missions is actually used to reach unreached people groups?
Population of the World
Total Population (2024): 8.1 Billion People
Today there were 164,000 births and 77,000 deaths.
World Population by Religion
According to a study (based on the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion) by The Pew Forum, there are:
- 2,173,180,000 Christians (31% of world population), of which 50% are Catholic, 37% Protestant, 12% Orthodox, and 1% other.
- 1,598,510,000 Muslims (23%), of which 87-90% are Sunnis, 10-13% Shia.
- 1,126,500,000 No Religion affiliation (16%): atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion. One-in-five people (20%) in the United States are religiously unaffiliated.
- 1,033,080,000 Hindus (15%), the overwhelming majority (94%) of which live in India.
- 487,540,000 Buddhists (7%), of which half live in China.
- 405,120,000 Folk Religionists (6%): faiths that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe.
- 58,110,000 Other Religions (1%): Baha’i faith, Taoism, Jainism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, Zoroastrianism and many others.
- 13,850,000 Jews (0.2%), four-fifths of which live in two countries: United States (41%) and Israel (41%).
World Population by Region
Asia: 4,806,898,007 Percentage: 58.9 %
Africa: 1,515,140,849 Percentage: 18.6 %
Europe: 745,083,824 Percentage: 9.1 %
Latin America and Caribbean: 663,466,072 Percentage: 8.1 %
North America: 385,295,105 Percentage: 4.7 %
Oceania: 46,088,716 Percentage: 0.6 %
Great Commission Facts
Definition: Unreached people groups are those who lack an indigenous church capable of evangelizing their own people. People groups are distinct social groups where shared language and cultural practices create communal belonging. (State of the Great Commission Report, 16).

Fact: Only three percent of international missionaries go to the unreached (who compose 40 percent of the global population). Thus, 97 percent of missionaries are sent to people who already have gospel access. (State of the Great Commission Report, 15).
Fact: Nearly nine out of ten Muslims and Hindus in the world do not personally know a Christian. (State of the Great Commission Report, 15).
Fact: The average Christian gives 1 penny a day to global missions.
Can You Help Us Reach the Unreached?
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