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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Babuyan Islands Ivatan of the Philippines

The Babuyan Islands Ivatan of the Philippines, numbering approximately 2,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of the Philippines and can also be known as Ibatan, Bashic Ibatan. They are an Indigenous people, in the Filipino Tribal people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Ibatan.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Babuyan Islands Ivatan

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: the Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino Tribal
Primary Language(s): Ibatan (ivb)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 2,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG007628

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ibatan
Language Family: Austronesian

%
Ibatan Speakers

Media Resources in Ibatan:

Films:

No entries found for: Ibatan(ivb). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Ibatan:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Ibatan bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Babuyan Islands Ivatan

The Babuyan Islands Ivatan 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 Babuyan Islands Ivatan

The Babuyan Islands Ivatan 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 Babuyan Islands Ivatan

The Babuyan Islands Ivatan 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 Babuyan Islands Ivatan of the Philippines

Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.
readIsaiah 45:24

Pray that those who are weary and burdened by their own righteousness will find rest in the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ alone.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
readJohn 6:35

Pray that the lost will come to Jesus and believe in Him, never to hunger or thirst again.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
readPsalm 27:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will strengthen them when they face persecution of any kind for Jesus' name’s sake.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
read2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will be faithful as they walk through trials and will have an opportunity to be a witness to others in this people group of the goodness of God.

Ivatan, Babuyan Islands reported in the following countries (ROP3):

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.

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