Large-scale, publicly available data sources for foreign missions planning — Bible translation status, unreached people groups, religious persecution, digital connectivity, Deaf ministry, and general demographics.
Prepared for internal research and strategic planning · August 2, 2026
This guide compiles the large-scale, publicly available data sources most useful for foreign missions planning — covering Bible translation status, unreached people groups, religious persecution, digital/mobile connectivity, Deaf ministry, and general demographics. It is organized by category, with the specific value of each source noted so it can be matched to the right question rather than treated as interchangeable with the others.
As a rule of thumb: Joshua Project and Ethnologue/ProgressBible answer "who and where"; Open Doors and Freedom House answer "how restricted"; ITU and GSMA answer "can they be reached digitally, and how"; WHO/WFD/DOOR answer Deaf-specific questions; and ECFA/MinistryWatch/Candid answer "can this partner organization be trusted with resources." No single source in any category is fully authoritative on its own — cross-checking two sources per question is the more defensible approach for any figures used in external-facing planning documents.
The master global reference for language counts, speaker populations, geographic distribution, and vitality/endangerment status (EGIDS scale). Wycliffe's own ProgressBible figures are built on Ethnologue data. More granular than any summary source used so far — searchable by country, language family, or status.
New edition roughly annually (29th edition current as of 2026). Core lookup free; full statistical summaries require subscription.
The live database behind the translation-status figures cited throughout this research (544 languages waiting, 1,676 with no Scripture and no active work, etc.). Going to the database directly rather than Wycliffe's blog summaries allows filtering by country or region.
Updated continuously; public dashboard with downloadable snapshots.
Independent cross-check on endangered and dying languages, useful for identifying where "never translated" and "going extinct" overlap — a distinct urgency signal beyond simple translation-waiting-list status.
Periodically updated by UNESCO; successor World Atlas of Languages platform is the current version.
The primary reference used throughout this research for unreached/frontier people group counts, the 10/40 Window, oral-preference statistics, and progress-scale classification. Includes a free REST API and downloadable datasets by country, language, and religion.
Continuously updated; ministry of the U.S. Center for World Mission.
An independent unreached/unengaged people group list, useful as a second source since it does not always agree with Joshua Project — triangulating between lists reduces reliance on any single methodology. Referenced earlier regarding the Deaf population in Nepal.
Coalition of mission agencies; periodically updated list.
A third independent people-group database, maintained by the IMB's global research team. Useful as an additional cross-check alongside Joshua Project and FTT, since the three lists use different definitions and field sourcing.
Updated by IMB regional and national field staff on an ongoing basis.
joshuaproject.net & pray1040.com
Country lists, maps, and statistics for the 10/40 Window band, already the geographic backbone of this research's zone framework.
Periodically revised country list; static reference with periodic updates.
Already in use in this research — the annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christian persecution is most severe. The primary prioritization tool for the "restricted access" half of the framework.
Published annually, typically in January.
News and country-level reporting specifically on Christian persecution, complementing Open Doors' annual ranking with ongoing incident-level detail.
Continuously updated news reporting.
UK-based persecution-monitoring and support organization; useful secondary source for cross-checking Open Doors' country assessments.
Ongoing country updates and annual reporting.
Independent (non-faith-based) annual assessments of political freedom and internet freedom by country. Useful for a secular cross-check on which "closed" countries are closed for general political reasons vs. specifically religious ones, and for internet censorship severity by country.
Two annual reports: Freedom in the World and Freedom on the Net.
The authoritative UN source for global and country-level internet penetration, more current and more granular than the CIA World Factbook for this specific data. Provides the urban/rural and income-level breakdowns cited above.
Annual flagship report ("Facts and Figures"), published each fall.
mobileconnectivityindex.com & gsma.com/somic
Covers 170 countries across 32 indicators; the key value-add beyond ITU is the coverage-gap vs. usage-gap distinction — directly informs whether a region needs infrastructure (satellite) or adoption/content work (apps, training, affordability).
Annual report series (State of Mobile Internet Connectivity), published each fall.
freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net
Country-by-country internet censorship and restriction severity — the specific data point needed to judge whether an app-based approach is viable versus likely to be blocked or monitored in a given restricted country.
Annual report.
The source organization behind most global Deaf population and sign-language figures cited in this research (the ~70 million estimate, 200–300+ sign languages). Primary source rather than secondary aggregation.
Ongoing; periodic position papers and statistics updates.
Publisher of the Deaf Bible App and tracker of sign-language Scripture translation status specifically — more granular than general Bible-translation sources for this population.
Ongoing; app and translation-status updates.
Deaf-led Bible translation and church-planting ministry; publishes its own Deaf-specific unreached statistics and translation progress, and was the primary source for the Deaf figures used earlier in this research.
Ongoing ministry updates and annual reporting.
Best for population age structure, literacy rate, internet/mobile penetration (though ITU/GSMA are more current for connectivity specifically), government type, and religious composition by country. Not a source for mission-specific or Deaf-specific data.
Updated on a rolling basis, country by country.
Authoritative source for population totals, age-structure projections, and urban/rural splits by country — more rigorous than the Factbook for demographic modeling and projections.
Major revision approximately every two years.
Primary source for the global hearing-loss and Deaf population figures used in this research (430 million with disabling hearing loss, 34 million children, age-distribution data).
Periodically updated fact sheet, most recently March 2026.
Already in use for org-level financial data. Confirms an organization meets defined financial-accountability standards — useful as a basic trust filter before deeper partnership evaluation.
Member profiles updated on each organization's fiscal-year cycle.
Already in use throughout this research for org profiles, financials, and staffing data. Independent evaluator with its own donor-confidence scoring, useful as a secondary check alongside ECFA.
Profiles updated periodically; donor-confidence scores recalculated regularly.
The largest U.S. nonprofit database, useful for Form 990 financial detail on any US-registered mission organization not already profiled in this research.
Updated as organizations file annual Form 990s with the IRS.