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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Karelians of Finland

The Karelians of Finland, numbering approximately 11,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous community of Finland They are an Indigenous people, in the Finno-Ugric people cluster of the Eurasian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Unaffiliated. They primarily speak Karelian.

Karelians in Finland photo
Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 3 Flash: Karelian

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: European Peoples
Country: Finland
People Cluster: Finno-Ugric
Primary Language(s): Karelian (krl)
Primary Religion(s): Unaffiliated
Population: 11,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000113
View on Joshua Project

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Unaffiliated
Religious Affiliation: Unaffiliated

%
Unaffiliated Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Karelian
Language Family: Uralic

%
Karelian Speakers

Media Resources in Karelian:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Karelian:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Karelian bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Karelians

The Karelians are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Karelians

The Karelians are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Karelians

The Karelians are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Karelians of Finland

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:3

Pray that those who are lost and unaware of God's blessings will come to know Him as the one true God, put their trust in Him, and join in praising Him among the nations.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that God will remove obstacles to the gospel so that many will see the hope He offers through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, and be transformed from being enemies to being His friends.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
readRevelation 21:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and walk through challenges, they will find comfort in God's promise of a beautiful future when there is no pain or suffering for those who belong to Christ.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

Karelian (ROP3 - 104657) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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