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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tai Long of Myanmar

The Tai Long of Myanmar, numbering approximately 4,770,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a people of Myanmar: Shan state, southeast Myanmar They are an Indigenous people, with Tai Phake (Phake) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Shan people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Theravada Buddhism. They primarily speak Shan.

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

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Shan
Primary Language(s): Shan (shn)
Primary Religion(s): Theravada Buddhism
Population: 4,770,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022043
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Pray for the Tai Long of Myanmar

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: Theravada Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

99%
%
Theravada Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shan
Language Family: Tai-Kadai

99%
%
Shan Speakers

Media Resources in Shan:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Shan:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2002 Thailand Bible Society✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tai Long 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 Tai Long:
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 Tai Long of Myanmar

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
readPsalm 19:1

Pray that those who are lost will look to the heavens and see the glory of God displayed, leading them to seek Him and know Him as their Creator and Savior.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:3

Pray that God will be working in people's hearts, give them opportunities to receive the gospel, and bring many to faith in Himself.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
readActs 17:23

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have a deep desire to know God more fully and to make Him known in creative ways to others who are still searching for truth.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Tai Shan Across Countries (ROP3 - 113721) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Tai LongPG022043Tai LongMyanmar4,770,000Engaged yet UnreachedShanTheravada Buddhism
Tai LongPG010918Tai LongThailand100,000Engaged yet UnreachedShanTheravada Buddhism

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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