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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Dawei of Myanmar

The Dawei of Myanmar, numbering approximately 600,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Myanmar They are an Indigenous people, with Tavoyan / Dawei as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Burmese people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Theravada Buddhism. They primarily speak Tavoyan.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Dawei

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Burmese
Primary Language(s): Tavoyan (tvn)
Primary Religion(s): Theravada Buddhism
Population: 600,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG048864
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Pray for the Dawei of Myanmar

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: Theravada Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

99%
%
Theravada Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tavoyan
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Tavoyan Speakers

Media Resources in Tavoyan:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tavoyan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tavoyan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Dawei 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 Dawei:
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 Dawei of Myanmar

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
readMark 10:15

Pray for those who might be trapped in pride, that God will humble them and give them a childlike faith and complete dependence on Him through faith in Christ.

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
readPsalm 104:24

Pray that they will see the wisdom and power of God in His creation and praise Him for His mighty works.

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
readPsalm 3:5-6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and experience isolation or other persecution, God will sustain them and give them confidence and rest in Him.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
read2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will be faithful as they walk through trials and will have an opportunity to be a witness to others in this people group of the goodness of God.

Tavoyan Across Countries (ROP3 - 114965) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
DaweiPG048864DaweiMyanmar600,000Engaged yet UnreachedTavoyanTheravada 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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