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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Deaf Dutch of Netherlands

The Deaf Dutch of Netherlands, numbering approximately 176,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a community of individuals who are culturally Deaf and actively participate in Deaf culture, often using sign language as their primary means of communication. They are an Indigenous people in the Deaf people cluster of the Deaf Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Sign Language of the Netherlands and their primary religion is Unaffiliated.

Photo by Generative AI: "Photo portrait with a blurred background of a Deaf Dutch person signing the word 'love' with their hands, visible in the portrait" prompt, Gemini 2.0 Flash, July 2025

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Deaf Peoples
Country: Netherlands
People Cluster: Deaf
Primary Language(s): Sign Language of the Netherlands (dse)
Primary Religion(s): Unaffiliated
Population: 176,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000404
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Pray for the Deaf Dutch of Netherlands

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Unaffiliated
Religious Affiliation: Unaffiliated

54%
%
Unaffiliated Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sign Language of the Netherlands
Language Family: Sign Language

11%
%
Sign Language of the Netherlands Speakers

Media Resources in Sign Language of the Netherlands:

Films:

No entries found for: Sign Language of the Netherlands(dse). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Sign Language of the Netherlands:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sign Language of the Netherlands bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active 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 Deaf Dutch:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Deaf Dutch are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Deaf Dutch:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Deaf Dutch are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Deaf Dutch:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Deaf Dutch of Netherlands

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
readPsalm 73:26

Pray that those who are lost and struggling to find hope will find their strength and hope in God, recognizing Him as their portion and deliverer forever.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
readPsalm 104:8

Pray that they will see the hand of God in the beauty and order of the natural world, and that they will worship Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
readColossians 3:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will set their minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, as they look to Christ for guidance and strength.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
read1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Pray that God will raise up believers to go to the lost and faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection so that all may have an opportunity to access and believe.

Deaf Dutch Across Countries (ROP3 - 116552) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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