Using the API

Free, public, read-only access to the research data on every people group. No account or key. Use it to build maps, prayer tools, research applications and more.

Base URL: https://pgorg.donbarger.com/api/v1
Also served at: https://pgorg.donbarger.com/wp-json/pg/v1, the current site's address, so existing integrations keep working unchanged.
Data: Refreshed daily from IMB Global Research. CORS is open (Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *).

Endpoints

Endpoint	Returns
`GET /people-groups`	A page of people group records. Takes every filter below.
`GET /people-groups/{pgid}`	One record, e.g. `PG006400` (case-insensitive).
`GET /people-groups/export`	The filtered set as CSV (23 columns). Pages only if `page` or `per_page` is given.
`GET /stats`	Totals for the filtered set, plus facet counts by country, religion, language, indigenous and affinity group.
`GET /breakdown/{dimension}`	Counts and population grouped by one dimension, largest first.
`GET /countries`, `/languages`, `/religions`	Each code with totals by gospel status.
`GET /affinity-groups`	The eight IMB affinity groups with totals.
`GET /people-groups/{pgid}/geometry`	The group's boundary polygon (GeoJSON) and point. New.

Filters

Every filter takes one or more values, comma-separated (country=IND,PAK) or repeated (country[]=IND&country[]=PAK). Values are case-insensitive. Different filters combine with AND; values within one filter combine with OR.

Parameter	Matches
`engagement`	Strategic Progress Index: `0` Unengaged and Unreached, `1` Engaged yet Unreached, `2` No Longer Unreached
`gsec`	GSEC code, `0`–`6`
`lostness`	Lostness priority code, `0` (Frontier) – `6`
`region`, `subregion`	UN M49 code (`142`) or name (`Asia`)
`country`	ISO 3166 alpha-3 code (`PAK`) or name (`Pakistan`)
`religion`	Religion code (`MSN`) or name
`language`	ISO 639-3 code (`snd`) or name
`language_family`	Language family name
`indigenous`	`Indigenous` or `Diaspora`
`affinity_group`	Affinity code (`AG500`), name or short name
`rop1`, `rop2`, `rop25`, `rop3`	Registry of Peoples codes
`pgid`	One or more PGIDs
`q`	Words that start with the search text, across names, alternate names, the ROP hierarchy, language and country. Every word must match.
`min_lat`, `max_lat`, `min_lng`, `max_lng`	Bounding box

Paging and sorting

page (from 1) and per_page (default 100, maximum 250; limit is an alias). Larger values are reduced to 250 and the response carries X-PG-Per-Page-Clamped.
X-WP-Total and X-WP-TotalPages headers give the size of the result.
orderby: display_name, population, country, engagement, pgid, gsec, lostness, indigenous, affinity_group, region, subregion, rop1, rop2, rop25, rop3, religion, language, language_family, relevance (default pgid); order: asc or desc.

Examples

One people group

GET https://pgorg.donbarger.com/api/v1/people-groups/PG006400

{
  "OBJECTID": 1166,
  "PEID": 6400,
  "PGID": "PG006400",
  "Name": "Sindhi",
  "DisplayName": "Sindhi",
  "AlternateNames": null,
  "PejorativeAltNames": null,
  "ISOAlpha3": "PAK",
  "CountryCode": "PAK",
  "CountryName": "Pakistan",
  "CountryDisplayName": "Pakistan",
  "CountryNameWithArticle": "Pakistan",
  "UNm49RegionName": "Asia",
  "UNm49RegionCode": "142",
  "UNm49Region": "142",
  "UNm49SubRegionName": "Southern Asia",
  "UNm49SubRegionCode": "034",
  "UNm49SubRegion": "34",
  "imbAffinityCode": "AG500",
  "imbAffinityName": "South Asian Peoples",
  "imbAffinityShortName": "ASAP",
  "Description": "an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the Sindh province of Pakistan",
  "LocationDescription": "Balochistan province: Khuzdar and Lasbela districts; Sindh province: widespread, Indus river lower reaches; Hyderabad, Karachi",
  "Population": 28290000,
  "EvangelicalLevel": "Less than 2%",
  "CongregationsExist": "Yes",
  "ChurchPlantingWithinLast2Years": "No Churches Planted",
  "EngagementStatus": "Engaged",
  "GSEC": 1,
  "GSECDescription": "Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity",
  "GSECLongDescription": "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",
  "EngagementProgress": 1,
  "Status": 1,
  "StatusName": "Active",
  "EngagementProgressDesc": "Engaged yet Unreached",
  "LostnessPriority": 0,
  "LostnessPriorityName": "Frontier Unreached People Group",
  "LostnessPriorityDescription": "< 0.1% Evangelical",
  "LanguageCode": "snd",
  "ROLROLV": "snd",
  "LanguageName": "Sindhi",
  "LanguageFamily": "Indo-European",
  "LanguageSpeakers": 100,
  "ROR": "MSN",
  "ReligionCode": "MSN",
  "ReligionName": "Islam - Sunni",
  "ReligionAdherents": 95,
  "ReligionDescription": "Sunni Islam, the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims follow the teachings of the Qur'an and consider the first four caliphs to be the rightful successors of Muhammad.",
  "RlgnBs": "Islam",
  "ROR4": "MSN",
  "ROR3": "M",
  "ReligionDisplayName": "Sunni Islam",
  "ROP3Code": "109027",
  "ROP3Name": "Sindhi",
  "ROP25": "307539",
  "ROP25Code": "307539",
  "ROP25Name": "Sindhi",
  "ROP2Code": "C0192",
  "ROP2Name": "Sindhi",
  "ROP1Code": "A012",
  "ROP1Name": "South Asian Peoples",
  "BibleAvailability": "Available",
  "JesusFilmAvailability": "Available",
  "RadioProgramAvailability": "Available",
  "GospelResourceAvailability": "Available",
  "AudioResourceAvailability": "Available",
  "BibleStoriesAvailability": "Not Available",
  "ResourceTotal": 5,
  "BiblePortionsAvailability": "Bible",
  "BibleYearPublished": "1954",
  "PhotoCredit": "Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Sindhi",
  "PhotoURL": "https://images.peoplegroups.org/imbpeople-featured-images/PG006400.jpg",
  "HasPhoto": "Y",
  "Indigenous": "Indigenous",
  "Lat": 25.39,
  "Long": 68.39,
  "PeopleSearch": "Sindhi of Pakistan (PG006400)",
  "UpdatedDate": "1790348661000",
  "CreatedDate": "978307200000",
  "DeletedDate": null,
  "CaptureDate": "2026-10-03"
}

Unengaged groups in Pakistan, largest first

GET https://pgorg.donbarger.com/api/v1/people-groups?country=PAK&engagement=0&orderby=population&order=desc&per_page=2

X-WP-Total: 28
X-WP-TotalPages: 14

[
  {
    "PGID": "PG046998",
    "DisplayName": "Deaf Pakistanis",
    "CountryName": "Pakistan",
    "Population": 10260000,
    "EngagementProgressDesc": "Unengaged and Unreached",
    "…": "(all fields, as above)"
  },
  {
    "PGID": "PG006346",
    "DisplayName": "Eastern Baloch",
    "CountryName": "Pakistan",
    "Population": 2995000,
    "EngagementProgressDesc": "Unengaged and Unreached",
    "…": "(all fields, as above)"
  }
]

Totals and facets

GET https://pgorg.donbarger.com/api/v1/stats?country=PAK

{
  "totals": {
    "total_pgs": 86,
    "total_pg_population": 258483325,
    "total_uupgs": 28,
    "total_uupg_population": 16199025,
    "total_eupgs": 51,
    "total_eupg_population": 239651800,
    "total_upgs": 79,
    "total_upg_population": 255850825,
    "total_nupg": 7,
    "total_nupg_population": 2632500,
    "distinct_countries": 1,
    "distinct_religions": 8,
    "distinct_languages": 69,
    "distinct_rop1": 8,
    "distinct_rop2": 33,
    "distinct_rop25": 72,
    "distinct_rop3": 86
  },
  "facets": {
    "countries": [
      {
        "code": "ABW",
        "total_pgs": 5,
        "total_pg_population": 108500
      },
      {
        "code": "AFG",
        "total_pgs": 45,
        "total_pg_population": 45040000
      },
      "…"
    ],
    "religions": [
      {
        "code": "BLA",
        "total_pgs": 2,
        "total_pg_population": 22300
      },
      {
        "code": "CPR",
        "total_pgs": 2,
        "total_pg_population": 771000
      },
      "…"
    ],
    "languages": [
      {
        "code": "arb",
        "total_pgs": 1,
        "total_pg_population": 248000
      },
      {
        "code": "bcc",
        "total_pgs": 1,
        "total_pg_population": 4590000
      },
      "…"
    ],
    "indigenous": [
      {
        "code": "Diaspora",
        "total_pgs": 13,
        "total_pg_population": 4208500
      },
      {
        "code": "Indigenous",
        "total_pgs": 73,
        "total_pg_population": 254274825
      },
      "…"
    ],
    "affinity_groups": [
      {
        "code": "AG100",
        "total_pgs": 2,
        "total_pg_population": 43500
      },
      {
        "code": "AG200",
        "total_pgs": 1,
        "total_pg_population": 248000
      },
      "…"
    ]
  }
}

Each facet ignores its own filter: filtering to Pakistan still lists every country in facets.countries, so you can show the alternatives. Facet order is not significant.

Breakdown by region

GET https://pgorg.donbarger.com/api/v1/breakdown/region

[
  {
    "code": "142",
    "name": "Asia",
    "total_pgs": 5073,
    "total_pg_population": 4905691085
  },
  {
    "code": "002",
    "name": "Africa",
    "total_pgs": 3076,
    "total_pg_population": 1550709325
  },
  {
    "code": "019",
    "name": "Americas",
    "total_pgs": 2118,
    "total_pg_population": 1063488010
  },
  {
    "code": "009",
    "name": "Oceania",
    "total_pgs": 1325,
    "total_pg_population": 47610895
  },
  {
    "code": "150",
    "name": "Europe",
    "total_pgs": 790,
    "total_pg_population": 742508780
  }
]

Dimensions: engagement, gsec, lostness, region, subregion, rop1, rop2, rop25, rop3, country, religion, language, language_family.

Code

JavaScript: page through every group

const all = [];
for (let page = 1, pages = 1; page <= pages; page++) {
  const res = await fetch(`https://pgorg.donbarger.com/api/v1/people-groups?per_page=250&page=${page}`);
  pages = Number(res.headers.get('X-WP-TotalPages'));
  all.push(...(await res.json()));
}
console.log(all.length, 'people groups');

Python: unreached groups in a country

import requests

r = requests.get("https://pgorg.donbarger.com/api/v1/people-groups",
                 params={"country": "PAK", "engagement": "0,1", "per_page": 250})
r.raise_for_status()
for g in r.json():
    print(g["PGID"], g["DisplayName"], g["Population"], g["EngagementProgressDesc"])

curl: download a filtered CSV

curl -o unengaged.csv "https://pgorg.donbarger.com/api/v1/people-groups/export?engagement=0"

Errors

Errors use the same shape everywhere, with a matching HTTP status:

{
  "code": "pg_not_found",
  "message": "No people group found for PGID: PG999999",
  "data": {
    "status": 404
  }
}

Differences from the current peoplegroups.org API

PejorativeAltNames is present for compatibility but always null. Derogatory names are not served.
An empty LocationDescription is always null (the current API returns "" for some records).
/countries, /languages and /religions list only codes that have at least one people group. The current API also lists reference entries with zero groups.
New: /people-groups/{pgid}/geometry, and the /api/v1 base URL.

Field definitions: People Group Field Descriptions (PDF). Filter names: engagement, gsec, lostness, region, subregion, rop1, rop2, rop25, rop3, country, religion, language, language_family, indigenous, affinity_group, pgid.