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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Phu Thai of Vietnam

The Phu Thai of Vietnam, numbering approximately 144,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Tai people whose ancestors migrated south from Yunnan between the 7th and 13th centuries, tracing their original homeland to the Dien Bien Phu area, retaining animist beliefs more strongly than related Tai groups in Thailand They are an Indigenous people, with Phu Tai as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Tai people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples. They mostly adhere to Animism and Phu Thai is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Vietnam
People Cluster: Tai
Primary Language(s): Phu Thai (pht)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 144,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011200
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Pray for the Phu Thai of Vietnam

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

96%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Phu Thai
Language Family: Tai-Kadai

100%
%
Phu Thai Speakers

Media Resources in Phu Thai:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Phu Thai:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Phu Thai bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Phu Thai are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Phu Thai:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Phu Thai of Vietnam

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
readPsalm 46:10

Pray that those who do not yet worship Jesus will be still and know that He is God, that He will be exalted among them and in all the earth.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
readPsalm 96:7

Pray that entire households will come to faith in Jesus and that God will bless their families with faith in Him for generations to come.

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.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
read1 Corinthians 9:20

Pray that believers from similar cultures will be compelled by Christ's love to reach people who don't know the gospel, and that those people will receive the good news with joy.

Phu Tai Across Countries (ROP3 - 108016) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Phu ThaiPG010907Phu ThaiThailand459,000Engaged yet UnreachedPhu ThaiTheravada Buddhism
Phu ThaiPG009164Phu ThaiLaos264,000Engaged yet UnreachedPhu ThaiTheravada Buddhism
Phu ThaiPG011200Phu ThaiVietnam144,000Engaged yet UnreachedPhu ThaiAnimism

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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