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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Jirel of Nepal

The Jirel of Nepal, numbering approximately 6,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Indigenous people of the Jiri-Sikri valleys of Dolakha in eastern Nepal, organized historically through clans and maintaining distinctive shamanic traditions alongside Buddhist and Hindu practices. They mostly adhere to Animism and Jirel is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Jirel

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Tibetan Peoples
Country: Nepal
People Cluster: Tibetan
Primary Language(s): Jirel (jul)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 6,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG006224
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Pray for the Jirel of Nepal

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Jirel
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

71%
%
Jirel Speakers

Media Resources in Jirel:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Jirel:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Jirel bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Jirel 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 Jirel:
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 Jirel of Nepal

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that any who may be enemies of God will grasp the depth of God's love demonstrated through Christ's death for the ungodly, and be reconciled to Him.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
readActs 4:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak God's Word with boldness, sharing the love of Jesus with those around them.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
readRomans 12:4-5

Ask God to send believers to people in other cultures and to help them use their gifts in harmony with others so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Jirel Across Countries (ROP3 - 104283) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

1 people group

Photo People Group ID Name Country Population ▼ Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Jirel PG006224 Jirel Nepal 6,500 No Longer Unreached Jirel Animism

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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