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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Golden Palaung of Myanmar

The Golden Palaung of Myanmar, numbering approximately 215,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are described as a distinct subgroup of the Palaung (Ta’ang) people, an Indigenous Austroasiatic (Mon‑Khmer) ethnic group predominantly in northern Shan State, Myanmar. They are called "Golden" because of the gold-colored style of women's traditional dress and ornaments Shwe Palaung They are an Indigenous people, with Palaung as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Mon-Khmer people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples. They mostly adhere to Theravada Buddhism and Shwe Palaung is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3 Flash: Golden Palaung

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Mon-Khmer
Primary Language(s): Shwe Palaung (pll)
Primary Religion(s): Theravada Buddhism
Population: 215,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG009429
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Pray for the Golden 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Theravada Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

90%
%
Theravada Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shwe Palaung
Language Family: Austroasiatic

100%
%
Palaung, Shwe Speakers

Media Resources in Shwe Palaung:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Shwe Palaung:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shwe Palaung bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Golden Palaung:
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

Pray specifically for the Golden Palaung of Myanmar

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or?rulers?or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
readColossians 1:16

Pray for those who are lost among them, that they will come to know the One who created all things and holds all things together.

Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia."
readRomans 16:5

Pray for houses to be meeting places for Christians and that God will advance the gospel and grow His Church through natural familial and community relationships.

For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
readPsalm 47:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will exalt the Lord, recognizing His reign over the nations and His sovereignty over all things.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

Palaung, Golden Across Countries (ROP3 - 103423) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Golden PalaungPG009429Golden PalaungMyanmar215,000Unengaged and UnreachedShwe PalaungTheravada Buddhism
Shwe DeangPG006720Shwe DeangChina8,100Unengaged and UnreachedShwe PalaungMahayana 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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