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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Waia of Papua New Guinea

The Waia of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 6,700 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Tabo is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Tabo (knv)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 6,700
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG010590
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Pray for the Waia 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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

26%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tabo
Language Family:

100%
%
Tabo Speakers

Media Resources in Tabo:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tabo:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2006 Bible Society of Papua New Guinea✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tabo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Waia 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 Waia:
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

Pray specifically for the Waia of Papua New Guinea

You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
readPsalm 65:9

Give thanks for God's provision in nature, and pray that those who don't know Him will recognize His hand, desire to know their Creator, and hear the truth that Jesus is the solution to the world's greatest need.

Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
readPsalm 47:6

Pray that believers will have a heart to invite others to trust in Christ alone so that they might sing praises to His name.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
readColossians 3:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
readPsalm 139:14

Praise God for His creativity and power, and pray that He will raise up men and women from among them who are in awe of all He has done and want to go share the hope of Christ with others.

Waia Across Countries (ROP3 - 110621) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
WaiaPG010590WaiaPapua New Guinea6,700Engaged yet UnreachedTaboEthnoreligion

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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