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The dataset viewer is not available for this split.
Cannot load the dataset split (in streaming mode) to extract the first rows.
Error code:   StreamingRowsError
Exception:    ArrowInvalid
Message:      JSON parse error: Invalid value. in row 0
Traceback:    Traceback (most recent call last):
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 183, in _generate_tables
                  df = pandas_read_json(f)
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 38, in pandas_read_json
                  return pd.read_json(path_or_buf, **kwargs)
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 815, in read_json
                  return json_reader.read()
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1014, in read
                  obj = self._get_object_parser(self.data)
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1040, in _get_object_parser
                  obj = FrameParser(json, **kwargs).parse()
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1176, in parse
                  self._parse()
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1392, in _parse
                  ujson_loads(json, precise_float=self.precise_float), dtype=None
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
              ValueError: Expected object or value
              
              During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
              
              Traceback (most recent call last):
                File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/utils.py", line 99, in get_rows_or_raise
                  return get_rows(
                         ^^^^^^^^^
                File "/src/libs/libcommon/src/libcommon/utils.py", line 272, in decorator
                  return func(*args, **kwargs)
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/utils.py", line 77, in get_rows
                  rows_plus_one = list(itertools.islice(ds, rows_max_number + 1))
                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/iterable_dataset.py", line 2543, in __iter__
                  for key, example in ex_iterable:
                                      ^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/iterable_dataset.py", line 362, in __iter__
                  for key, pa_table in self.generate_tables_fn(**gen_kwags):
                                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 186, in _generate_tables
                  raise e
                File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 160, in _generate_tables
                  pa_table = paj.read_json(
                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                File "pyarrow/_json.pyx", line 342, in pyarrow._json.read_json
                File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 155, in pyarrow.lib.pyarrow_internal_check_status
                File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 92, in pyarrow.lib.check_status
              pyarrow.lib.ArrowInvalid: JSON parse error: Invalid value. in row 0

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Joshua Project Global Peoples Dataset

Dataset Summary

Demographic, linguistic, and religious data for people groups worldwide, sourced from the Joshua Project API v1.

  • 16,382 people groups across 238 countries
  • 7,134 languages with Bible translation status
  • Enriched Parquet files for fast analysis (95% smaller than JSON)
  • Updated December 2025

Supported Tasks

  • Geospatial visualization and mapping
  • Demographic analysis and clustering
  • Linguistic diversity research
  • Bible translation gap analysis
  • Cross-cultural studies

Languages

Data covers 7,134 languages identified by ISO 639-3 codes.

Dataset Structure

Data Instances

Each record in the enriched dataset looks like:

{
  "PeopleID3": 10208,
  "PeopNameInCountry": "Tuareg, Air",
  "Population": 517000,
  "LeastReached": "Y",
  "JPScale": 1,
  "PrimaryReligion": "Islam",
  "country_data": {
    "name": "Niger",
    "percent_christianity": 1.62,
    "total_peoples": 36
  },
  "language_data": {
    "name": "Tamajeq, Tayart",
    "bible_status": 4,
    "has_jesus_film": "N"
  }
}

Data Fields

Field Type Description
PeopleID3 int Unique people-group identifier
PeopNameInCountry str Name within country context
ROG3 str 3-letter country code
ROL3 str 3-letter language code (ISO 639-3)
Population int Estimated population
LeastReached str Y / N --under 2% evangelical
JPScale int 1-5 gospel access scale
PrimaryReligion str Predominant religion
PercentEvangelical float Evangelical Christian %
BibleStatus int Translation completeness (0-5)

107 total fields per record. See FieldDefinitions.csv for the complete schema.

Data Splits

Split Records Description
Full (enriched) 16,382 All people groups with embedded country/language data
Unreached 7,124 Least-reached subset (< 2% evangelical)

Dataset Creation

Source Data

  • Provider: Joshua Project via API v1
  • API maintainer: Missional Digerati
  • Collection date: December 21-23, 2025
  • Method: Full API dump via Python fetcher scripts (included in repo)
  • Recommended refresh: Quarterly

Considerations for Using the Data

Known biases:

  • Data is collected with a Christian missions focus --religious categorizations reflect that lens
  • Population figures are estimates, not census data
  • Coverage is more detailed for regions with active missions research

Limitations:

  • Snapshot from December 2025; populations and percentages change over time
  • Religious categories are simplified; doesn't capture pluralism
  • Some remote groups have sparse information

Ethical use:

  • Not intended for political targeting or discrimination
  • Population estimates should be cited as approximations

Additional Information

Licensing

This packaging is MIT-licensed. The underlying data is provided by Joshua Project for research purposes --see joshuaproject.net for their terms.

Citation

@dataset{joshua_project_2025,
  title   = {Joshua Project Global Peoples Dataset},
  author  = {Joshua Project},
  year    = {2025},
  url     = {https://joshuaproject.net},
  note    = {Packaged by Luke Steuber, fetched December 2025 via API v1}
}

Dataset Card Author

Luke Steuber --dr.eamer.dev

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