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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Balau of Malaysia

The Balau of Malaysia, numbering approximately 12,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a tribal subgroup of the Dayak people in Sarawak, Malaysia,. They mostly adhere to Animism and Iban is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Balau

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Iban (iba)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 12,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009199
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Pray for the Balau of Malaysia

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

65%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Iban
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Iban Speakers

Media Resources in Iban:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Iban:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Today's Iban Version✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Iban bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Balau 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 Balau:
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 Balau of Malaysia

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
readPsalm 46:10

Pray that those who do not yet worship Jesus will be still and know that He is God, that He will be exalted among them and in all the earth.

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
readPsalm 96:2

Pray that gospel resources will reach this generation so that they will receive the good news and sing to the LORD, bless His name, and tell of His salvation each day.

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
readMatthew 18:19

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they find other believers to pray with, and that they will trust God to answer their requests according to His will.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readMatthew 9:37-38

Pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up believers to send out into His harvest field, which is ripe and ready.

Balau Across Countries (ROP3 - 100841) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BalauPG009199BalauMalaysia12,000No Longer UnreachedIbanAnimism

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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