The Ayoreo of Bolivia

The Ayoreo of Bolivia, numbering approximately 1,700 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as a Gran Chaco people of Bolivia's Santa Cruz department tracing mission contact to 1724's Jesuit San Ignacio de Zamucos, though the name Ayoreo dates only to after the 1932-1935 Chaco War, still recognized constitutionally under its older name, Zamuco They are an Indigenous people, with Ayore (Ayoreo) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the South American Indigenous people cluster of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Ayoreo is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Bolivia
People Cluster: South American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Ayoreo (ayo)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 1,700
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG017384
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Ayoreo of Bolivia

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ayoreo
Language Family: Zamucoan

100%
%
Ayoreo Speakers

Media Resources in Ayoreo:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Ayoreo:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1982 New Tribes Mission✓✓
2018 Ethnos 360✓✓✓

2 entries

Or check out the Ayoreo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Ayoreo 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 Ayoreo:
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 Ayoreo of Bolivia

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
readIsaiah 45:22

Pray for many lost people to turn to the Lord, finding forgiveness and salvation in Him, for He is the only way to true life and restoration.

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
readLuke 13:3

Pray that the lost will repent and believe the gospel, for without it, they will perish.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
readPsalm 119:105

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will meditate daily on the Word of God so that, through it, they might have wisdom for the big and small decisions they face every day.

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.

Ayoreo Across Countries (ROP3 - 100666) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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