Iran

Main Languages:   Persian, Azeri, Gilaki, Kurdish, Arabic, Luri, Baluchi, Bakhtiari, Turkmen
 
Primary Religions: Islam 
 
Number of Iranians:
In Canada: 121,510
In the GTA: 56,925
In the City of Toronto: 6,175
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas): Newmarket, Aurora, Richmond Hill, Markham, Willowdale, Don Valley West, Don Valley East
 
Cultural Facts: Hospitality and loyalty are very important in Iranian culture.

Bangladesh

Ethnic groups:  Bengali 98%, other 2% (includes tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims) (1998)
 
Languages:  Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English
 
Religions:  Muslim 89.5%, Hindu 9.6%, other 0.9% (2004)
 
Population:  161,083,804 (July 2012 est.)

Sudan

 

Main Languages: Arabic, English
 
Primary Religions: Most Sudanese, who live mainly in the north, are Muslim and follow the religion of Islam. The Sudanese living in the south follow Christianity, which is expanding rapidly and sometimes has been combined with traditional spiritual elements. Sudanese Christians follow practices very similar to those in Canada. 
 
Number of Sudanese: 
In Canada: 12,640
In the GTA:3,025
In the City of Toronto:1,240
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas): Mississauga, Vaughan, City of Toronto (Ward 15 Eglinton-Lawrence)

 

Afghanistan

Main Languages: Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian/Farsi) are the official languages; other languages spoken in the country include Baluchi, Pashai, Nuristani
 
Primary Religions:  Islam, Sikhs, and Hindus
 
Number of Afghanis:
In Canada: 48,090
In the GTA: 23,230
In the City of Toronto: 15,120
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas Map): Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Aurora, City of Toronto (Ward 42 Scarborough-Rouge River, Ward 43 Scarborough East)

Canada

Ethnic Groups:
British Isles origin 28%, French origin 23%, other European 15%, Amerindian 2%, other, mostly Asian, African, Arab 6%, mixed background 26%
 
Languages:
English (official) 58.8%, French (official) 21.6%, other 19.6% (2006 Census)
 
Religions:
Roman Catholic 42.6%, Protestant 23.3% (United Church 9.5%, Anglican 6.8%, Baptist 2.4%, Lutheran 2%), other Christian 4.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other and unspecified 11.8%, none 16% (2001 census)
 
Population:
34,030,589 (July 2011 est.)

 

 

China

China summary.

Ecuador

Main Languages:  Spanish; Indian language, Quichua, is also spoken, it is an important part of the Ecuadorian culture, but is not an official language. English is spoken and understood in most tourist and business areas.
 
Primary Religions: Catholic
 
Number of Ecuadorian:
In Canada: 16,485
In the GTA: 12,975
In the City of Toronto: 6,390
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas): City of Toronto (ward 2 Etobicoke North, 7 York west, 11 & 12 York South-weston, 17 Davenport), Vaughan, nothern part of Uxbridge, Brampton, Oakville

United States of America

Main Languages:  English
 
Number of Americans:
In Canada: 316,350
In the GTA: 38,915
In the City of Toronto: 15,950
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas):  All across Greater Toronto Area

Ukraine

Main Languages: Ukrainian is similar to Russian and it has been influenced by Polish
 
Primary Religions: Christians (Orthodox or Catholic)
 
Number of Ukrainian: 
In Canada: 1,209,085
In the GTA: 122,510
In the City of Toronto:52,205
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas): Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Oakville, Halton Hills, Caledon, King, East Gwillimbury, Newmarket, Aurora, Whitchurch-stoufville, City of Toronto (Ward 5 & 6 Etobicoke Lakeshore) 
 
Cultural Traditions / Social etiquette:
Ukrainians usually shake hands when they meet and when they say goodbye. When they first meet someone, they may shake hands and introduce themselves, rather than say "How do you do?"  Ukrainian is a musical and poetic language. It is said that every second Ukrainian is a poet!

Haiti

Ethnic groups: black 95%, mulatto and white 5%
 
Languages:  French (official), Creole (official)
 
Religions:  Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3%  Note: roughly half of the population practices voodoo
 
Population:  9,801,664 (July 2012 est.)

United Kingdom

Main Language:  English
 
Number of English:
In Canada: 6,570,015
In the GTA: 804,100
In the City of Toronto: 294,315
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas):  Milton, Oakville, Halton Hills, Caledon, King, Aurora, Newmarket, Whitchurch-Stoufville, East Gwillimbury, Ajax, Uxbridge, City of Toronto (central)

Pakistan

Main Languages: Urdu, English, Punjabi, Pushto, Baluchi, Sindhi
 
Major Ethnic Groups: Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and the North-West Frontier
Primary Religions: Islam (97% of the total population); the remaining 3% is made up of Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians and Christians
 
Number of Pakistani: 
In Canada: 124,730
In the GTA: 76,110
In the City of Toronto: 21,380
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas): Markham, Brampton, Vaughan, Mississauga, City of Toronto (Ward 42 Scarborough Rouge River), Pickering  

Ireland

Main Languages:  English, Irish, Gaelic  
 
Primary Religions: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism
 
Number of Irish:
In Canada: 4,354,155
In the GTA: 531,865
In the City of Toronto: 201,485
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas): Halton Hills, Milton, Oakville, King, New Market, Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Uxbridge, Caledon

Malawi

Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa. Its neighbors include Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania.
 
Malawi’s land mass is 94,080 square kilometers, or slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
 
Agriculture is the predominant economic endeavor, with about 80 percent of people living in rural areas.
 
Of Malawi’s almost 16 million people, 920,000 (11 percent) are living with HIV/AIDS. Life expectancy is 51.7 years. Source: CIA World Factbook (LINK: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mi.html
 

Cambodia

Main Languages:  Khmer, French, Vietnamese, English
 
Primary Religions: Buddhism, Hinduism; Some Cambodian Muslims and Buddhists also practise animism. Animists believe that natural objects contain spirits. A minority of Cambodians are Muslim and Christian.
 
Number of Cambodian:
In Canada: 25,245
In the GTA: 4,085
In the City of Toronto: 295
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas Map): Newmarket, Aurora, Vaughan, City of Toronto (Ward 7 York west)

Rwanda

Main Languages: Kinyarwanda, Swahili, French, English
 
Major Ethnic Groups:  Hutu, Tutsi, Twa
Primary Religions: Christianity, Islam, indigenous beliefs
 
Number of Rwandan: 
In Canada: 5,670
In the GTA: 625
In the City of Toronto:260

Ethiopia

Main Languages:  Amharic (Official); Tigrinya, Oromo
 
Primary Religions: Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Traditional Indigenous Beliefs
 
Number of Ethiopians:
In Canada: 23,400
In the GTA: 10,635
In the City of Toronto: 6,505
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas):  Markahm, Vaughan, City of Toronto

Bulgaria

Main Languages:  Bulgarian, a South Slavonic language related to Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian. 
There are about 30 different dialects Within Bulgaria.
 
Primary Religions:
  • Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Baptism is considered the most important ritual in establishing individual identity, Bulgarians called "civil baptism."
  • The Muslim population in Bulgaria consists mainly of the Turks, most of whom live in the northwestern regions and the Rhodope Mountains. Some Bulgarians converted to Islam during Ottoman rule.
  • Roman Catholic missionaries converted small numbers of Bulgarians to the Catholic faith during the 16th century.  Most Roman Catholics live in Ruse, Sofia or Plovdiv.
  • Protestantism was introduced to Bulgaria by American missionaries in the 19th century. The Protestants established schools, clinics and youth clubs.
Number of Bulgarians:
In Canada: 27,255
In the GTA: 9,445
In the City of Toronto: 4,995
 
Primary Areas of Settlement in the GTA (Social Atlas): Vaughan, City of Toronto, Uxbridge, Georgina

Turkmenistan

Ethnic groups:  Turkmen 85%, Uzbek 5%, Russian 4%, other 6% (2003)
 
Languages:  Turkmen (official) 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7%
 
Religions:  Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2%
 
Population:  5,054,828 (July 2012 est.)

Vietnam

Ethnic groups:  Kinh (Viet) 85.7%, Tay 1.9%, Thai 1.8%, Muong 1.5%, Khmer 1.5%, Mong 1.2%, Nung 1.1%, others 5.3% (2009 census)
 
Languages:  Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer, mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
 
Religions:  Buddhist 9.3%, Catholic 6.7%, Hoa Hao 1.5%, Cao Dai 1.1%, Protestant 0.5%, Muslim 0.1%, none 80.8% (1999 census)
 
Population:  91,519,289 (July 2012 est.)

India

Ethnic groups:  Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)
 
Languages:  Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9%
 
Note: English enjoys the status of subsidiary official language but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the most widely spoken language and primary tongue of 41% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2001 census)
 
Religions:  Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
 
Population: 1,205,073,612 (July 2012 est.)

Russian Federation

Ethnic groups:  Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census)
 
Languages:  Russian (official), many minority languages
 
Religions:  Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.)
note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule
 
Population:  138,082,178 (July 2012 est.)

Nigeria

Ethnic groups:  Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups; the following are the most populous and politically influential: Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%
 
Languages:  English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, over 500 additional indigenous languages
 
Religions:  Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%
 
Population:  170,123,740 (July 2012 est.)

Liberia

Ethnic groups:  Kpelle 20.3%, Bassa 13.4%, Grebo 10%, Gio 8%, Mano 7.9%, Kru 6%, Lorma 5.1%, Kissi 4.8%, Gola 4.4%, other 20.1% (2008 census)
 
Languages:  English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages few of which can be written or used in correspondence
 
Religions:  Christian 85.6%, Muslim 12.2%, Traditional 0.6%, other 0.2%, none 1.4% (2008 census)
 
Population:  3,887,886 (July 2012 est.)

Germany

Ethnic groups:  German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish)
 
Languages: German
 
Religions:  Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3%
 
Population:  81,305,856 (July 2012 est.)

South Africa

South Africa summary.

Philippines

Ethnic groups: Tagalog 28.1%, Cebuano 13.1%, Ilocano 9%, Bisaya/Binisaya 7.6%, Hiligaynon Ilonggo 7.5%, Bikol 6%, Waray 3.4%, other 25.3% (2000 census)
 
Languages: Filipino (official; based on Tagalog) and English (official); eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinan
 
Religions:  Catholic 82.9% (Roman Catholic 80.9%, Aglipayan 2%), Muslim 5%, Evangelical 2.8%, Iglesia ni Kristo 2.3%, other Christian 4.5%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.6%, none 0.1% (2000 census)
 
Population: 103,775,002 (July 2012 est.)

Israel

Ethnic groups:

 Jewish 76.4% (of which Israel-born 67.1%, Europe/America-born 22.6%, Africa-born 5.9%, Asia-born 4.2%), non-Jewish 23.6% (mostly Arab) (2004)

Languages:  Hebrew (official), Arabic (used officially for Arab minority), English (most commonly used foreign language)

Religions:

  Jewish 75.6%, Muslim 16.9%, Christian 2%, Druze 1.7%, other 3.8% (2008 census)

Population:  7,590,758 (July 2012 est.)

EthnoRadio

Nothing is more compelling than a personal story.  Of all the messages you've heard, the most memorable have a story connected with them, with imagery you cannot forget.

The mission of Ethnoradio is simple: to give people of every nation the opportunity to hear stories of transformed lives in their own language. Utilizing the international recording capabilities of HCJB Global, we gather stories of life-change, and make them available via the simple interactive map you see above.

As the site is developed, you'll see more and more nations represented. If you have a passion for a particular country or people group we would love to hear from you and give you the opportunity to get involved.  

1. Sponsor a country or language.  We need churches and individuals to sponsor countries and language groups within each country.  This provides the funding we need to gather, produce and stream testimonies and keep each page current with news stories. Download our Sponsorship Guidelines for more information on how to get involved.

2. Record your testimony.  You can come to our studios in Cambridge, ON., we can come to you, or you can record your own.  Please use our Testimony Guidelines to prepare your story and then email it to us along with a simple picture of yourself.  You can useVocaroo to record your testimony using your computer with a built-in microphone!

3. Spread the word and let others know what we are doing!  

We are passionate about giving people the opportunity to hear stories of life-change in their own language from real people, just like you, who have experienced God's love and grace.  Will you help us make this happen?

For the glory of God's Kingdom,

 

 

Brian Mullins

Brian Mullins

Director of Media, HCJB Global Canada