Over the last 20 years there has been significant growth amongst indigenous Christians in many countries of the former Soviet Union, as the table below shows. (In most of these countries, the majority of the Christians who there were in 1989 belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church. For many indigenous people, Christianity was – and still is – seen as a 'foreign' or Russian religion.)
| Country |
Christians,
1989 |
Christians,
2009 |
Available Scriptures, 1989 |
Available Scriptures, 2009 |
| Azerbaijan |
Russian Orthodox and Russian Baptists; hardly any Azeri Christians |
60,750 (including about 20,000 Azeri & Lezghi Christians) |
In Azeri: New Testament (1982)
(translation of complete Bible in 1891 in Arabic script)
In Lezghi: none |
In Azeri: Bible (revised version 2004)
In Lezghi: The Gospels; Acts; Psalms and other OT selections |
| Chechnya |
No known Chechen Christians |
Dozens of Chechen Christians |
Gospel of John,
Acts |
New Testament (2007); OT selections; - Translation of Old Testament in progress. |
| Kazakhstan |
Many Protestant and Roman Catholic believers with a German back-ground |
5,619,000 (including about 12,000 Kazakh Christians) |
The Gospels |
New Testament; OT selections - Translation of Old Testament in progress. |
| Kyrgyzstan |
Hardly any Kyrgyz Christians |
597,000 (including about 25,000 Kyrgyz Christians) |
Gospels of Mark, John
Acts |
New Testament (1991) Complete Bible (2004) |
| Tajikistan |
Hardly any Tajik Christians |
200,000 (including about 10,000 Tajik Christians) |
New Testament |
Complete Bible (1992) Revision in progress. |
| Turkmenistan |
Hardly any Turkmen Christians |
32,500 (including about 2000 Turkmen Christians) |
Gospel of John |
New Testament (1994); OT selections -
Translation of Old Testament in progress |
| Uzbekistan |
Hardly any Uzbek Christians,
hardly any Karakalpak Christians |
1,424,000 (including about 30,000 Uzbek and Karakalpak Christians) |
In Uzbek: The Gospels, Genesis, Jonah
In Karakalpak: none |
In Uzbek: New Testament (1992); OT selections - Translation of Old Testament in progress.
In Karakalpak: New Testament (2004); OT selections - Translation of Old Testament in progress |
