Global People Group Lists: An Overview

A Simple Guide to People Group Lists

How many people groups are there in the world? How many are unreached? Which numbers are correct and which list of people groups is “right”? The varying answers to these questions can cause confusion in the missions community. The Lord has graciously provided the global missions community with several sets of people group information. Each has great value and none is entirely right or entirely wrong. Each list has a unique perspective, definitions, criteria, and sources which cause variation between the lists. These variations cause a degree of disagreement between the lists which encourages healthy dialog. The following provides some basic definitions, a brief history, and an overview of the comprehensive global people group lists, several subsets and other important collections of missions data.