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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Meadow Mari of Uzbekistan

The Meadow Mari of Uzbekistan, numbering approximately 5,600 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Volga Finnic people of central Russia who speak Meadow Mari. Their culture reflects Finno-Ugric roots and centuries of interaction with neighboring peoples, and many continue to practice the traditional Mari ethnic religion. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Eastern Mari is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Mari

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Uzbekistan
People Cluster: Finno-Ugric
Primary Language(s): Eastern Mari (mhr)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 5,600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024305
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Pray for the Meadow Mari of Uzbekistan

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Eastern Mari
Language Family: Uralic

100%
%
Mari, Meadow Speakers

Media Resources in Eastern Mari:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Eastern Mari:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Institute for Bible Translation✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Eastern Mari bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Meadow Mari:
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

Pray specifically for the Meadow Mari of Uzbekistan

For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?
readPsalm 18:31

As people look to their own efforts for hope, pray they will have the opportunity to learn and believe in the Lord, who is the only Rock worthy of their faith.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
readMatthew 13:8-9

Pray that they will have open hearts and minds to the Word of God, and that it will take root in their lives and bear fruit for His glory.

In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
readPsalm 56:10-11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the Lord's promises, knowing that He will uphold them with His righteous right hand.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Mari, Meadow Across Countries (ROP3 - 105877) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Meadow MariPG000925Meadow MariRussian Federation548,000Unengaged and UnreachedEastern MariEthnoreligion
Meadow MariPG024288Meadow MariKazakhstan8,800Unengaged and UnreachedEastern MariEthnoreligion
Meadow MariPG024305Meadow MariUzbekistan5,600Unengaged and UnreachedEastern MariEthnoreligion
Meadow MariPG024513Meadow MariTajikistan750Unengaged and UnreachedEastern MariEthnoreligion

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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