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The Sinhalese of Singapore

The Sinhalese of Singapore, numbering approximately 23,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a culturally rich and historically significant ethnic group in Sri Lanka, known for their Sinhala language, Theravada Buddhist traditions, and influential role in shaping the island's cultural and political landscape. They mostly adhere to Theravada Buddhism and Sinhala is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Singapore
People Cluster: Sinhala
Primary Language(s): Sinhala (sin)
Primary Religion(s): Theravada Buddhism
Population: 23,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG010722
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Pray for the Sinhalese of Singapore

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Theravada Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

95%
%
Theravada Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sinhala
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Sinhala Speakers

Media Resources in Sinhala:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sinhala:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sinhala bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

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 Sinhalese:
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 Sinhalese of Singapore

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
readRomans 5:7-8

Pray for the many who don't yet understand the hope of the gospel, and pray that God will reveal to them that while they were in darkness, Christ died for them.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
readMatthew 6:10

Pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that people will seek His kingdom and righteousness above all else, trusting in His provision.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
readHebrews 10:35

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hold unswervingly to their faith and to their confidence in Christ, which has a great reward.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Sinhalese Across Countries (ROP3 - 109305) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

11 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
SinhalesePG006441SinhaleseSri Lanka17,690,000Engaged yet UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG012253SinhaleseUnited Arab Emirates179,000Engaged yet UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
Sri LankenPG042326Sri LankenItaly115,000Unengaged and UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG046417SinhaleseQatar56,500Engaged yet UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG046413SinhaleseOman53,500Engaged yet UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG018261SinhaleseMalaysia36,500No Longer UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG047303SinhaleseUnited States30,500Engaged yet UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG010722SinhaleseSingapore23,500Unengaged and UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG043470SinhaleseCanada18,000Engaged yet UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG010919SinhaleseThailand8,200Unengaged and UnreachedSinhalaTheravada Buddhism
SinhalesePG006165SinhaleseMaldives4,000No Longer UnreachedSinhalaTheravada 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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