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The Northern Saami of Sweden

The Northern Saami of Sweden, numbering approximately 6,100 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an indigenous Sámi people of northern Sweden whose homeland lies within Sápmi across national borders, forming the largest Sámi ethnolinguistic community and maintaining Northern Sámi cultural traditions and language. They mostly adhere to Unaffiliated and Northern Sami is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Northern Saami

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Eurasian Peoples
Country: Sweden
People Cluster: Finno-Ugric, Saami
Primary Language(s): Northern Sami (sme)
Primary Religion(s): Unaffiliated
Population: 6,100
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000561
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Pray for the Northern Saami of Sweden

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Unaffiliated
Religious Affiliation: Unaffiliated

60%
%
Unaffiliated Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Northern Sami
Language Family: Uralic

100%
%
Saami, North Speakers

Media Resources in Northern Sami:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Northern Sami:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Northern Sami 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 Northern Saami:
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 Northern Saami of Sweden

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
readPsalm 9:9-10

Pray that God will help those who are oppressed and without hope to hear the good news of Jesus and trust in Him, for He has never forsaken those who seek Him.

Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him!
readPsalm 68:4

Pray that many will come to faith in Christ and share the gospel with others so that His salvation will be known among all nations.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
readPsalm 127:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will build their homes in the Lord and raise their children to know and honor Him.

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
read1 Corinthians 9:22

Ask God to raise up believers from around the world to go and share the hope of Jesus with the lost so that they might trust in Him and have the hope of eternal life.

Saami, Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 107458) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Northern SaamiPG000451Northern SaamiNorway44,500Engaged yet UnreachedNorthern SamiUnaffiliated
Northern SaamiPG000561Northern SaamiSweden6,100Unengaged and UnreachedNorthern SamiUnaffiliated
Northern SaamiPG048851Northern SaamiFinland1,800No Longer UnreachedNorthern SamiProtestantism

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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