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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Yabem of Papua New Guinea

The Yabem of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 8,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Yabem is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Yabem (jae)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 8,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010630
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Pray for the Yabem of Papua New Guinea

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

41%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Yabem
Language Family: Austronesian

65%
%
Yabem Speakers

Media Resources in Yabem:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Yabem:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1980 Bible Society of Papua New Guinea✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Yabem bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Yabem 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 Yabem:
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 Yabem of Papua New Guinea

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
readPsalm 130:4

Pray that God will bring those who have hard hearts to repentance and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
readPsalm 127:3

Pray that God will bless this generation of children, that they will come to know Jesus early in life and follow Him always.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
readEphesians 6:11

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will put on the full armor of God so that they will be able to stand against the schemes of the enemy.

Yabem Across Countries (ROP3 - 110906) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
YabemPG010630YabemPapua New Guinea8,000No Longer UnreachedYabemProtestantism

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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