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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Kobon of Papua New Guinea

The Kobon of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 18,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea They are an Indigenous people, with Kobon as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Kobon is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Kobon

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Kobon (kpw)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 18,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010069
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Pray for the Kobon 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

35%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kobon
Language Family: Nuclear Trans New Guinea

100%
%
Kobon Speakers

Media Resources in Kobon:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Kobon:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2005 The Bible Society of Papua New Guinea✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Kobon bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Kobon 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 Kobon:
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 Kobon of Papua New Guinea

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
readIsaiah 40:8

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will be freed from the emptiness of fading hopes and find lasting life and truth in the unchanging Word of God.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
readJohn 6:35

Pray that the lost will come to Jesus and believe in Him, never to hunger or thirst again.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
readJames 4:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will turn from worldly passions and live in unity with one another.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
read2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will be faithful as they walk through trials and will have an opportunity to be a witness to others in this people group of the goodness of God.

Kobon Across Countries (ROP3 - 105068) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
KobonPG010069KobonPapua New Guinea18,000No Longer UnreachedKobonProtestantism

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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