The Bengali of Saudi Arabia

The Bengali of Saudi Arabia, numbering approximately 1,080,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic community originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of South Asia They are an Diaspora people, with Bengali as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Bengali people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Bengali.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bengali

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Saudi Arabia
People Cluster: Bengali
Primary Language(s): Bengali (ben)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 1,080,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011915
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bengali of Saudi Arabia

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bengali
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Bengali Speakers

Media Resources in Bengali:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

5 films

Bible Resources in Bengali:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Common Language Version✓✓✓
Mussolmani✓✓
Re-edit Bangla Version✓✓

3 entries

Or check out the Bengali bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Bengali 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.

Next steps for the Bengali:
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

Pray specifically for the Bengali of Saudi Arabia

For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
readPsalm 130:7b

Pray for those who are unaware of God's steadfast love that is offered to them through Jesus Christ to learn the truth and experience His plentiful redemption.

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.

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!"
readMark 7:9

Pray that as men, women, boys, and girls place their faith in Christ, they will let go of any traditions that do not honor Him.

And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
readMatthew 25:40

Ask God to raise up and send believers who will serve "the least of these" with compassion and energy because they know that in serving those in need, they are serving Christ.

Bengali Across Countries (ROP3 - 101254) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

16 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BengaliBengaliIndia4,585,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliUnited Arab Emirates1,355,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliUnited Kingdom1,175,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliSaudi Arabia1,080,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliMalaysia500,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliPakistan393,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliUnited States377,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliMyanmar347,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliOman267,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliSingapore157,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliItaly134,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliCanada81,500Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliThailand35,500Unengaged and UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliSri Lanka25,500Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliGermany15,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam
BengaliBengaliKenya1,700Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliSunni Islam

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 Data Standards section.

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