The Thai of Hong Kong

The Thai of Hong Kong, numbering approximately 13,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a diaspora community in Hong Kong composed largely of migrants from Thailand and Thai-Chinese families who maintain Thai cultural traditions while concentrated around the historic Thai enclave of Kowloon City. They mostly adhere to Theravada Buddhism and Thai is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Thai

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Hong Kong
People Cluster: Thai
Primary Language(s): Thai (tha)
Primary Religion(s): Theravada Buddhism
Population: 13,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG050599
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Thai of Hong Kong

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Theravada Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

99%
%
Theravada Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Thai
Language Family: Tai-Kadai

100%
%
Thai Speakers

Media Resources in Thai:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Bible Resources in Thai:

4 entries

Or check out the Thai bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Expanding Unreached People Group, (LPI: 2), 0.5% or Greater but Less than 2% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), 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

Next steps for the Thai:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Thai of Hong Kong

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
read1 John 4:10

Pray for those without the hope of Christ to understand the depth of God's love and the sacrifice He made for them.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
readJohn 8:12

Pray that many will come to know Jesus, the light of the world, and have the light of life instead of walking in darkness.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
readPsalm 51:10

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will quickly repent when they sin and walk with clean hearts and right spirits as they grow in their relationship with the Lord.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
readJohn 12:24

Pray that God will raise up men and women who are willing to die to their own desires, bearing much fruit for the kingdom among individuals and in places where His gospel has not been proclaimed.

Thai Across Countries (ROP3 - 101940) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

11 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ThaiThaiThailand22,850,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiUnited States195,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiSingapore64,500Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiCambodia47,000Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiMyanmar45,500Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiMalaysia34,500Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiAustralia30,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiGermany20,500Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiHong Kong13,000Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiFrance10,500Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiThaiCanada9,200Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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