The Nali-Yiru of Papua New Guinea

The Nali-Yiru of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 5,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Nali is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Nali-Yiru

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Nali (nss)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 5,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010280
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Nali-Yiru 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

46%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nali
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Nali Speakers

Media Resources in Nali:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Nali:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2008, 2012 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc.✓

1 entry

Or check out the Nali bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Nali-Yiru 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 Nali-Yiru:
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 Nali-Yiru of Papua New Guinea

While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
readLuke 9:42

Pray that those who are living outside of the hope of the gospel will know and trust that Jesus offers freedom from the oppression of sin and hope in eternal life.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
readJames 4:4

Pray that the lost will be convicted of their friendship with the world, which is hostility toward God, and that they will turn from their sin and embrace the grace and mercy of God through Christ Jesus.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
read2 Corinthians 12:10

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will embrace their weaknesses, hardships, and difficulties, having hope because Christ's power is made perfect in their weakness.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Nali-Yiru Across Countries (ROP3 - 107046) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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