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The Kiribertese of Kiribati

The Kiribertese of Kiribati, numbering approximately 136,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Austronesian ethnic group indigenous to Kiribati. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Gilbertese is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Kiribati
People Cluster: Micronesian
Primary Language(s): Gilbertese (gil)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 136,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009088
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Pray for the Kiribertese of Kiribati

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: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

60%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gilbertese
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Kiribati Speakers

Media Resources in Gilbertese:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Gilbertese:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Bible Society of the South Pacific, 2016✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Gilbertese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Kiribertese 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 Kiribertese:
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 Kiribertese of Kiribati

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
readJohn 3:18

Pray for those who are living under the burden of their sin to believe in Jesus, the only Son of God, and receive freedom.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
read2 Timothy 4:3-4

Pray that the lost will be open to the truth of the gospel and turn from false teachings and myths to the sound doctrine of Christ in faith.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
readPsalm 23:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the Lord's presence, even in the darkest valleys.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Kiribertese Across Countries (ROP3 - 105038) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

7 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
KiribertesePG009088KiriberteseKiribati136,000No Longer UnreachedGilberteseRoman Catholicism
KiribertesePG008225KiriberteseFiji7,100No Longer UnreachedGilberteseProtestantism
GilbertesePG018403GilberteseSolomon Islands2,400No Longer UnreachedGilberteseProtestantism
KiribertesePG009559KiriberteseNauru2,300No Longer UnreachedGilberteseProtestantism
GilbertesePG010993GilberteseVanuatu1,000No Longer UnreachedGilberteseProtestantism
GilbertesePG047255GilberteseUnited States225No Longer UnreachedGilberteseProtestantism
KiribertesePG018320KiriberteseTuvalu125No Longer UnreachedGilberteseProtestantism

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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