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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 Rakhine of Myanmar

The Rakhine of Myanmar, numbering approximately 2,195,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Myanmar. They are an Indigenous people, in the Burmese people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Buddhism - Theravada. They primarily speak Rakhine.

Rakkain in Bangladesh photo
Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Rakhine

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Burmese
Primary Language(s): Rakhine (rki)
Primary Religion(s): Buddhism - Theravada
Population: 2,195,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022040
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Pray for the Rakhine of Myanmar

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Buddhism - Theravada
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

%
Buddhism - Theravada Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Rakhine
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

%
Rakhine Speakers

Media Resources in Rakhine:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Rakhine:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Rakhine bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Rakhine

The Rakhine are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Rakhine

The Rakhine 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.

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

Next steps for the Rakhine

The Rakhine 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Rakhine of Myanmar

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:3

Pray that those who are lost and unaware of God's blessings will come to know Him as the one true God, put their trust in Him, and join in praising Him among the nations.

If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
readPsalm 139:8

Pray that the lost will recognize God's presence with them wherever they go, put their faith in Christ, and seek to live in a way that honors and glorifies Him.

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
readHebrews 10:32-33

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember the day of their salvation and persevere in their faith despite hardships and suffering.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Arakanese (Rakhine) (ROP3 - 106013) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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