Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
Be sure to use the data import function in your favorite app for working with data.
If you'd like to help improve these translations, Contact Us.

PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Rumai Palaung of Myanmar

The Rumai Palaung of Myanmar, numbering approximately 218,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Myanmar They are an Indigenous people, in the Mon-Khmer people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Buddhism - Theravada. They primarily speak Palaung, Rumai.

Rumai Palaung in Myanmar photo
Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Rumai Palaung

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Mon-Khmer
Primary Language(s): Palaung, Rumai (rbb)
Primary Religion(s): Buddhism - Theravada
Population: 218,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022053
View on Joshua Project

Prayer Card
Submit Updates

Pray for the Rumai Palaung 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!
Download Prayer Guide

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Buddhism - Theravada
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

%
Buddhism - Theravada Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Palaung, Rumai
Language Family: Austroasiatic

%
Palaung, Rumai Speakers

Media Resources in Palaung, Rumai:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Palaung, Rumai:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Palaung, Rumai bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Rumai Palaung

The Rumai Palaung are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Rumai Palaung

The Rumai Palaung 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.

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

Next steps for the Rumai Palaung

The Rumai Palaung 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Rumai Palaung of Myanmar

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
readPsalm 47:7

Pray for those who live for idols that will never satisfy their hearts, asking that someone will tell them that God is the King of all the earth so that they will turn to Him in repentance and praise.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
readPsalm 34:8

Pray that the gospel will advance and that many will have the opportunity to taste and see the goodness of God and entrust their lives to Him.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
readGalatians 3:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be united in Christ across all differences of ethnicity, social status, and gender.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
readPsalm 23:6

Ask God to raise up believers who will share the hope that, for those who trust in Christ, goodness and love will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Rumai (ROP3 - 108436) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

Scroll to Top