Who the Uyghur are
The Uyghur are a Turkic Muslim people whose homeland is Xinjiang in north-western China, with diaspora communities in Central Asia, Turkey and beyond. Their language, culture and faith set them apart from China's Han majority.
In 2022 the UN human rights office reported serious human-rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, including large-scale detention. In that setting there are very few Uyghur believers, and meeting together is extremely difficult — yet the full Bible exists in Uyghur, and Uyghurs in the diaspora are reachable in ways their families at home are not.
Signs of hope
The full Uyghur Bible, and diaspora communities who can be reached freely outside China.
The honest difficulty
Mass surveillance and detention, extreme restrictions on all religious life, and very few believers.
What "Frontier" means
Fewer than 1 in 1,000 follow Jesus, and there is no indigenous movement large enough to grow on its own. Most people in this group will never meet a Christian.
This describes access to the Gospel, not the worth of a people or the sincerity of anyone's faith.
How to pray for the Uyghur
Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.
- Pray for justice and mercy for Uyghurs suffering detention and surveillance.
- Pray for the few Uyghur believers, wherever they are.
- Ask God to open hearts among Uyghurs in the diaspora.
- Pray for wisdom and safety for anyone serving among them.
Where the Uyghur live
Each nation profile carries church size, unreached peoples, what is going well, what is hard, and four prayer points.
Questions people ask about the Uyghur
Who are the Uyghur people?
The Uyghur (also called Uighur) are a people group of roughly 12 million, living mainly in China. They speak Uyghur and are predominantly Islam (Sunni). A Turkic Muslim people of China's far west, living under some of the most intense surveillance on earth. Population figures for people groups vary considerably by source and by how a group is defined.
Are the Uyghur an unreached people group?
The Uyghur are classified as frontier. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 follow Jesus, and there is no indigenous movement large enough to grow on its own. Most people in this group will never meet a Christian. Scripture status: Full Bible in Uyghur.
How can I pray for the Uyghur?
Pray for justice and mercy for Uyghurs suffering detention and surveillance. Pray for the few Uyghur believers, wherever they are. Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.