10/40 Window: The Ultimate Guide

Home to over 96% of the world’s unreached people, the 10/40 Window is the most significant geographic region in the world for Christians to focus on if we want to see the Great Commission completed.

What is the 10/40 Window and why is it so significant? Find out in this Ultimate Guide to the 10/40 Window below!

World map showing the 10 40 Window

What is the 10/40 Window?

The 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area that stretches from 10°N to 40°N latitude and from Morocco to Japan. The region encompasses much of North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia.

The 10/40 Window is home to 83% of the worlds remaining unreached people groups and over 90% of the world’s remaining frontier people groups. The vast majority of these people groups follow Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Ethnic Religions, or are non-religious.

10 40 Window Religions

Country List

Original
The original 10/40 Window country list included the 61 countries that had at least 50% of their land mass between 10°N and 40°N latitude and between Morocco and Japan.

Updated
The updated 10/40 Window country list includes nations that have a large number of unreached people groups and are close to 10°N and 40°N latitude. The updated country list also removes countries that have a large Christian population.

One example of a country that was added to the updated list is Indonesia. Indonesia is located below 10°N, but it has the largest population of Muslims in the world and is home to 240 unreached people groups and 113 frontier people groups.

Original vs Updated 10/40 Window Country List

Countries Removed: Cyprus, Gibraltar, Greece, South Korea, Malta, Philippines, Portugal (7)

Countries Added: Albania, Azerbaijan, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nigeria, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan (14)

Original Country List

  1. Afghanistan
  2. Algeria
  3. Bahrain
  4. Bangladesh
  5. Benin
  6. Bhutan
  7. Burkina Faso
  8. Cambodia
  9. Chad
  10. China
  11. China, Hong Kong
  12. China, Macau
  13. Cyprus
  14. Djibouti
  15. Egypt
  16. Eritrea
  17. Ethiopia
  18. Gambia
  19. Gibraltar
  20. Greece
  21. Guinea
  22. Guinea-Bissau
  23. India
  24. Iran
  25. Iraq
  26. Israel
  27. Japan
  28. Jordan
  29. Korea, North
  30. Korea, South
  31. Kuwait
  32. Laos
  33. Lebanon
  34. Libya
  35. Mali
  36. Malta
  37. Mauritania
  38. Morocco
  39. Myanmar (Burma)
  40. Nepal
  41. Niger
  42. Oman
  43. Pakistan
  44. Philippines
  45. Portugal
  46. Qatar
  47. Saudi Arabia
  48. Senegal
  49. Sudan
  50. Syria
  51. Taiwan
  52. Tajikistan
  53. Thailand
  54. Tunisia
  55. Turkey
  56. Turkmenistan
  57. United Arab Emirates
  58. Vietnam
  59. West Bank / Gaza
  60. Western Sahara
  61. Yemen

Italicized countries were removed from the updated list.

Updated Country List

  1. Afghanistan
  2. Albania
  3. Algeria
  4. Azerbaijan
  5. Bahrain
  6. Bangladesh
  7. Benin
  8. Bhutan
  9. Brunei
  10. Burkina Faso
  11. Cambodia
  12. Chad
  13. China
  14. China, Hong Kong
  15. China, Macau
  16. Djibouti
  17. East Timor
  18. Egypt
  19. Eritrea
  20. Ethiopia
  21. Gambia
  22. Guinea
  23. Guinea-Bissau
  24. India
  25. Indonesia
  26. Iran
  27. Iraq
  28. Israel
  29. Japan
  30. Jordan
  31. Kazakhstan
  32. Korea, North
  33. Kuwait
  34. Kyrgyzstan
  35. Laos
  36. Lebanon
  37. Libya
  38. Malaysia
  39. Maldives
  40. Mali
  41. Mauritania
  42. Mongolia
  43. Morocco
  44. Myanmar (Burma)
  45. Nepal
  46. Niger
  47. Nigeria
  48. Oman
  49. Pakistan
  50. Qatar
  51. Saudi Arabia
  52. Senegal
  53. Somalia
  54. Sri Lanka
  55. Sudan
  56. Syria
  57. Taiwan
  58. Tajikistan
  59. Thailand
  60. Tunisia
  61. Turkey
  62. Turkmenistan
  63. United Arab Emirates
  64. Uzbekistan
  65. Vietnam
  66. West Bank / Gaza
  67. Western Sahara
  68. Yemen

Bolded countries were added to the updated list.

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Pray1040 makes it easy to learn about and pray for 10/40 Window countries! Take 5-10 minutes each week to learn about the geography and history of a different 10/40 Window country each week, then pray along with a local believer for their country using the Prayercast video!

Pray for 10/40 Window Countries

Christian Persecution

There is a direct overlap between the 10/40 Window and the countries where Chrisitan persecution is the most intense! In fact, 47 out of the top 50 countries experiencing Christian persecution are in the 10/40 Window!

Shown below is Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List showing the top 50 countries countries where Christian persecution is the most intense.

World Watch List map with 1040 Window

The devil is clearly fighting hard to keep his remaining strongholds in the 10/40 Window unreached by the gospel.

Let’s fight back together through prayer!

Pray for the persecuted church with Pray1040! Take 5-10 minutes each week to learn about and pray for a different country on the World Watch List!

Pray for the Persecuted Church

Unreached People Groups (UPG)

An unreached people group is a people group that is less than 2% evangelical Christian and less than 5% Christian adherent (people who claim to be Christian).

The 10/40 Window is home to:

  • 83% of unreached people groups
  • 97% of the unreached people groups population

29 out of every 30 unreached people are in the 10/40 Window.

Below is a map of the world’s people groups color-coded from reached (green) to unreached (red).

10/40 window people groups reached and unreached map

Frontier People Groups (FPG)

A frontier people group is a people group that is less than 0.1% evangelical Christian and there are no known church planting movements among them. Frontier people groups are the “unreached of the unreached”.

Of the 7,415 unreached people groups in the world, 4,977 are frontier people groups.

The 10/40 Window is home to:

  • 90% of frontier people groups
  • 98% of the frontier people group population

98% of people living in frontier people groups live in the 10/40 Window.

Below is a map showing the locations of frontier people groups over 1 million people color-coded by religion.

286 of the 294 groups are in the 10/40 Window!

Frontier people groups over 1 million people. (Source: Joshua Project)

Learn more about frontier people groups in our Ultimate Guide to Frontier People Groups.

“Slow drip” your learning and prayers for the 38 largest frontier people groups in the world with Pray1040! Receive a new prayer profile each week covering the 38 frontier people groups that have more than 10 million people. Each profile takes 5-10 minutes to pray through.

Pray for Frontier People Groups

This next chart is a summary of the people groups, unreached people groups, and frontier people groups in the world along with the percent of each that are in the 10/40 Window.

By People GroupAllUnreachedFrontier
People Groups17,4287,4154,977
% of Total100%43%29%
In 10/40 Window8,8686,1814,491
% in 10/40 Window83%90%

This second chart summarizes the same data by population.

By PopulationWorldUnreachedFrontier
Population7,926,214,3903,369,917,2102,031,576,540
% of World100%43%26%
In 10/40 Window5,272,559,7203,255,1653,9401,995,530,270
% in 10/40 Window67%97%98%

Religions

The 10/40 Window is home to the vast majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, followers of ethnic religions, and non-religious people.

Population and people group data are from Joshua Project unless otherwise noted.

Islam

There are approximately 2 billion Muslims in the world and almost 95% of them live in the (updated) 10/40 Window.

Muslim people groups and the 10/40 Window
Muslim people groups and the 10/40 Window

Global Population: 1,966,000,000 (87-90% Sunni, 10-13% Shia)
Population in 10/40 Window: 1,849,000,000 (94%)

The countries with the largest Muslim populations are:1

  1. Indonesia – 236,000,000
  2. India – 199,000,000
  3. Pakistan – 189,000,000
  4. Bangladesh – 150,000,000
  5. Nigeria – 87,000,000

Global Muslim People Groups: 4,043
Muslim People Groups in 10/40 Window: 3,016 (75%)

The countries with the most Muslim people groups are:

  1. Pakistan – 687
  2. India – 392
  3. Indonesia – 253
  4. Sudan – 139
  5. Nigeria – 105

Hinduism

There are approximately 1.2 billion Hindus in the world and almost 95% of them live in the (updated) 10/40 Window.

Hindu people groups in the 10/40 Window.
Hindu people groups and the 10/40 Window

Global Population: 1,225,000,000
Population in 10/40 Window: 1,209,000,000 (99%)

The countries with the largest Hindu populations are:1

  1. India – 1,097,000,000
  2. Nepal – 27,000,000
  3. Bangladesh – 15,000,000
  4. Indonesia – 5,000,000
  5. Pakistan – 4,000,000

Global Hindu People Groups: 2,476
Hindu People Groups in 10/40 Window: 2,345 (95%)

The countries with the most Hindu people groups are:

  1. India – 1,678
  2. Bangladesh – 188
  3. Nepal – 187
  4. Pakistan – 128
  5. Sri Lanka – 78

Buddhism

There are approximately 400 million Buddhists in the world and 97% of them live in the (updated) 10/40 Window.

Buddhist people groups in the 10/40 Window
Buddhist people groups and the 10/40 Window

Global Population: 403,000,000
Population in 10/40 Window: 392,000,000 (97%)

The countries with the largest Buddhist populations are:1

  1. China – 275,000,000
  2. Thailand – 73,000,000
  3. Japan – 52,000,000
  4. Myanmar – 43,000,000
  5. Sri Lanka – 16,000,000

Global Buddhist People Groups: 686
Buddhist People Groups in 10/40 Window: 532 (78%)

The countries with the most Buddhist people groups are:

  1. China – 102
  2. Thailand – 61
  3. India – 56
  4. Myanmar – 54
  5. Sri Lanka – 46

Ethnic Religions

There are approximately 486 million followers of ethnic religions in the world and 80% of them live in the (updated) 10/40 Window.

Ethnic religion people groups and the 10/40 Window

Global Population: 486,000,000
Population in 10/40 Window: 387,000,000 (80%)

The countries with the largest populations that follow ethnic (folk) religions are:1

  1. China – 332,000,000
  2. Vietnam – 45,000,000
  3. Taiwan – 12,000,000
  4. India – 7,000,000
  5. Brazil – 6,000,000

Global Ethnic Religions People Groups: 2,621
Ethnic Religions People Groups in 10/40 Window: 1,384 (53%)

The countries with the most people groups that follow ethnic religions are:

  1. China – 378
  2. Nigeria – 210
  3. Brazil – 202
  4. Indonesia – 148
  5. Philippines – 101

Non-religious

There are approximately 1.2 billion non-religious people in the world. While only 24% of the non-religious people groups are located in the 10/40 Window, 93% of the non-religious population lives in the (updated) 10/40 Window. This is because the vast majority of 900,000,000+ Mandarin Han Chinese are non-religious, but only count as one people group.

Non-religious people groups and the 10/40 Window

Global Population: 1,194,000,000
Population in 10/40 Window: 1,105,000,000 (93%)

The countries with the largest non-religious populations are:1

  1. China – 790,000,000
  2. Japan – 81,000,000
  3. United States – 57,000,000
  4. Vietnam – 29,000,000
  5. Russia – 26,000,000

Global Non-Religious People Groups: 265
Non-Religious People Groups in 10/40 Window: 64 (24%)

The countries with the most non-religious people groups are:

  1. China – 22
  2. United States – 9
  3. France – 8
  4. Russia – 7
  5. Netherlands – 7

Other

There are approximately 30 million people in people groups whose primary religion is classified as “other” and 97% of them live in the 10/40 Window. Many of these people groups are Sikh.

“Other” people groups and the 10/40 Window

Global Population: 30,000,000
Population in 10/40 Window: 29,000,000 (97%)

The countries with the largest populations in “Other” religions are:1

  1. India – 31,000,000
  2. China – 10,000,000
  3. Japan – 7,000,000
  4. Taiwan – 4,000,000
  5. North Korea – 4,000,000

Global Other People Groups: 138
Non-Religious People Groups in 10/40 Window: 64 (24%)

The countries with the most “Other” religion people groups are:

  1. India – 83
  2. Nepal – 10
  3. United States – 5
  4. Bangladesh – 5
  5. Pakistan – 5

Christianity

There are approximately 2.6 billion followers of Christianity in the world and 11% of them live in the (updated) 10/40 Window.

Christian people groups and the 10/40 Window

Global Population: 2,619,000,000 (50% Catholic, 37% Protestant, 12% Orthodox, 1% Other)
Population in 10/40 Window: 298,000,000 (11%)

The countries with the largest Christian populations are:1

  1. United States – 274,000,000
  2. Brazil – 195,000,000
  3. Mexico – 122,000,000
  4. Russia – 118,000,000
  5. Philippines – 97,000,000

Global Christian People Groups: 7,169
Christian People Groups in 10/40 Window: 1,375 (19%)

The countries with the most Christian people groups are:

  1. India – 83
  2. Nepal – 10
  3. United States – 5
  4. Bangladesh – 5
  5. Pakistan – 5

1 Country population estimates are taken from Pew Research’s Global Religious Landscape report. A 1% growth rate was applied from 2010 to 2022, then the number was rounded to the nearest million.

Population

Not only is the 10/40 Window significant because it is home to the vast majority of the world’s remaining unreached people groups, it also is significant because it has 2/3 of the world’s total population, or about 5.3 billion people.

Cartogram of the World’s Population

The cartogram from Our World in Data below shows this visually. Each square on the map represents 500,000 people in 2018. Representing 1/3 of the world’s population, China and India’s combined 2.77 billion people dominate the map.

Cartogram of the population of the World

The Valeriepieris Circle

The Valeriepieris circle simplifies this concept of the world’s population distribution dramatically with a simple circle where more people live in the circle than outside of it.

Valeriepieris circle where more people live inside the circle than outside of it.
The Valeriepieris circle

The Valeriepieris circle is centered on the eastern half of the 10/40 Window and contains only 10/40 Window countries (except for South Korea and the Philippines).

Cartogram of Unreached People Group (UPG) Population

Joshua Project created another helpful cartogram that visualizes the scale of the population in unreached people groups. It should come as no surprise that 10/40 Window countries dominate the map, especially India.

Cartogram of unreached people group population

These maps are helpful for Christians to quickly see that the greatest gospel need, in terms of population (souls) unreached by the gospel, is in the 10/40 Window, and India in particular.

Megacities

The 10/40 Window is home to the 5 largest cities in the world (Tokyo, Jakarta, Delhi, Guangzhou and Mumbai) and 29 of the 44 global megacities that have over 10 million in population. (Source: Demographia Urban Atlas 2022)

Cities provide a unique challenge to church planting as there is high turnover of people in urban contexts and people’s natural oikos (Greek word for friends and family) is broken down.

Poverty

It is widely reported that 80% of the world’s “poorest of the poor” live in the 10/40 Window. However, this statistic is from 1990 data and global poverty has changed dramatically since then. In 1990, 2 billion people were living in extreme poverty. By 2019, that number had dropped to 684 million. (Source: World Bank)

Further, many Asian countries of the 10/40 Window have seen incredible improvement in their extreme poverty rates, while many sub-Saharan African countries have not seen the same improvement. The progress of the Asian countries has shifted the extreme poverty issue from a broad 10/40 Window issue to a more concentrated sub-Saharan Africa issue.

In 2022, it is estimated that only 40% of people living in extreme poverty live in the 10/40 Window.
Source: World Data Lab

The map below from World Data Lab shows that in 2022 the majority of Asian countries either have poverty levels below 3% of their population or are on track to reduce extreme poverty to less than 3% by 2030. (A less than 3% extreme poverty rate is Sustainable Development Goal 1 (sdg1) of the UN.) In contrast, many sub-Saharan African countries are either off-track to hit 3% or extreme poverty rates are rising in the country.

2022 world extreme poverty rates
Source: World Data Lab

By 2030, even though Africa will account for only 15% of the world’s population, it will be home to 77% of the people living in extreme poverty.

Country20222022 Population 20302030 Population
Africa71%431,000,00077%392,000,000
Asia22%132,000,00013%68,000,000
Europe1%3,300,0001%2,800,000
North America2%12,400,0002%11,600,000
South America5%29,000,0006%28,700,000
Oceania1%3,100,0001%3,200,000
TOTAL610,800,000506,300,000
Extreme poverty rate and populations for continents from 2022 to 2030. Percentages do not sum to 100% due to rounding. (Source: World Data Lab)

Poverty in 10/40 Window Countries

China
The most dramatic example of this improvement in extreme poverty is China, which went from 72% of its population living in extreme poverty in 1990 to only 0.14% in 2019.

India
India has followed a similar trajectory going from 50% of its population living in extreme poverty in 1987 to only 10% in 2019.

China

Poverty Rate in China 1990 - 2019
Extreme poverty rate of China 1990-2019

India

Poverty rate in India 1977-2019
Extreme poverty rate of India 1977-2019

Pakistan
Pakistan has also gone from 65% of their population living in extreme poverty in 1990 to only 5% in 2019.

Indonesia
Indonesia has seen a similar level of improvement to Pakistan going from 63% living in extreme poverty in 1990 to just 4% in 2019.

Nigeria
Nigeria hasn’t seen near the improvements as the Asian countries, going from 52% of their population living in extreme poverty to 31% in 2019.

The table below shows extreme poverty rates for the most populous 10/40 Window countries that had high poverty rates in 1990.

Country199020192022 Population
China72%0%1,426,000,000
India50%10%1,417,000,000
Indonesia63%4%275,500,000
Pakistan65%5%236,000,000
Nigeria52%31%218,500,000
Bangladesh42%13%171,000,000
Extreme poverty rate improvements for select countries from 1990 to 2019. (Source: World Bank)

Other “Windows”

The term “10/40 Window” has spurred the creation of other “windows” around the world to describe religious and demographic groupings of peoples. Below are two of the more well-known “other windows”.

The 40/70 Window

The 40/70 Window covers the geographic area north of the 10/40 Window, including much of Europe, Russia and Central Asia. The 40/70 Window is characterized as being “post-Christian” – where Christianity used to dominate, but is now largely atheist. While many people think of Europe as Christianized, it actually has the lowest percentage evangelical Christians of any continent!

The 4/14 Window

The 4/14 Window isn’t a geographic window, but an age window that is meant to bring focus to the age range where people are most likely to decide to follow Jesus. A survey by the National Association of Evangelicals in 2015 found that 63% of their members made their decision to follow Jesus between the ages of 4 and 14. Barna’s research has yielded similar results.

FAQ

How many countries are in the 10/40 Window?

The updated 10/40 Window has 68 countries. The original 10/40 Window had 61 countries.

What is the population of the 10/40 Window?

The 2022 population of the 10/40 Window is 5.3 billion people.

Who coined the term “10/40 Window”?

Luis Bush, CEO of Partners International, coined the term “10/40 Window” in 1990 to refer to the geographic window of opportunity to reach the region of the world that had the least access to the Christian gospel message and the highest concentration of the world’s poor.

Conclusion

The 10/40 Window is home to:

  • 85% of the world’s remaining unreached people groups (UPG)
  • 90% of the world’s remaining frontier people groups (FPG)
  • 97% of the world’s UPG population
  • 98% of the world’s FPG population
  • 47 of the 50 countries on the World Watch List
  • 2/3 of the world’s population

There is no place in the world more important, more strategic, or more urgent to focus our efforts for Christian missions that the 10/40 Window.

And it all starts with prayer.

Get started praying with Pray1040 today!