Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Lahu of Thailand

The Lahu of Thailand, numbering approximately 82,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnic hill tribe indigenous to the border area between China's Yunnan province and Myanmar's Shan state. They mostly adhere to Animism and Lahu is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Tibetan Peoples
Country: Thailand
People Cluster: Other Tibeto-Burmese
Primary Language(s): Lahu (lhu)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 82,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010877
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Pray for the Lahu of Thailand

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

80%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Lahu
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Lahu Speakers

Media Resources in Lahu:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Lahu:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1989 Thailand Bible Society✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Lahu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Lahu 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 Lahu:
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 Lahu of Thailand

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
readPsalm 47:7

Pray for those who live for idols that will never satisfy their hearts, asking that someone will tell them that God is the King of all the earth so that they will turn to Him in repentance and praise.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:5

While there are many who do not yet praise God, pray that He will work in their lives, advance the gospel among them, and bring many to saving faith in Christ.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
readTitus 3:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and might struggle with temptation to trust in their own works, they will remember that it is only because of God's mercy that they have been saved.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
readRomans 9:16

Ask God to raise up people who will trust in His sovereignty as they share the gospel, knowing that it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

Lahu Across Countries (ROP3 - 105576) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
LahuPG007238LahuChina593,000No Longer UnreachedLahuAnimism
LahuPG009463LahuMyanmar200,000No Longer UnreachedLahuProtestantism
LahuPG010877LahuThailand82,000No Longer UnreachedLahuAnimism
LahuPG011172LahuVietnam9,700No Longer UnreachedLahuAnimism

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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