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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Duke of York Islanders of Papua New Guinea

The Duke of York Islanders of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 23,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They are an Indigenous people in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Ramoaaina and their primary religion is Protestantism.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Duke of York Islander

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Ramoaaina (rai)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 23,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009876
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Pray for the Duke of York Islanders of Papua New Guinea

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

45%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ramoaaina
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Ramoaaina Speakers

Media Resources in Ramoaaina:

Films:

No entries found for: Ramoaaina(rai). Help build some!

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Bible Resources in Ramoaaina:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Ramoaaina 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: 2), 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): Significantly Reached People Group, (LPI: 6), > 20% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical (GSEC: 6), this people group is greater than or equal to 10% evangelical

Next steps for the Duke of York Islanders:
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 Duke of York Islanders 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 Duke of York Islanders:
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 Duke of York Islanders 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 Duke of York Islanders:
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 Duke of York Islanders of Papua New Guinea

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God".
readRomans 3:10-11

Pray that God will have mercy on those living in broken relationship with Him, and that He will bring many to surrender and repentance at the throne of grace.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
readPsalm 34:4

Pray for each who becomes a child of God to share the hope of eternity with family and friends.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will lead those who might hesitate in getting baptized to trust Him as they obey His command, even when obedience is hard.

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.

Duke of York Islander Across Countries (ROP3 - 102755) 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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