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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Sinhalese of Maldives

The Sinhalese of Maldives, numbering approximately 3,900 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a diaspora community of Sinhalese in theMaldives. They are an Diaspora people, in the South Asian Buddhist people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Buddhism - Theravada. They primarily speak Sinhala.

Sinhalese in Canada photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 The Road Provides - Shutterstock Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Maldives
People Cluster: South Asian Buddhist
Primary Language(s): Sinhala (sin)
Primary Religion(s): Buddhism - Theravada
Population: 3,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG006165
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Sinhalese of Maldives

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: Buddhism - Theravada
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

%
Buddhism - Theravada Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sinhala
Language Family: Indo-European

%
Sinhala Speakers

Media Resources in Sinhala:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sinhala:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sinhala bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Sinhalese

The Sinhalese 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 Sinhalese

The Sinhalese 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 Sinhalese

The Sinhalese 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 Sinhalese of Maldives

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.
readMatthew 4:16

Pray that those living in darkness and the shadow of death will see a great light and turn to the Lord for salvation.

Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
readPsalm 47:6

Pray that believers will have a heart to invite others to trust in Christ alone so that they might sing praises to His name.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
readColossians 3:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
readLuke 18:29-30

Pray that God will raise up people to go and share the gospel and help them trust His promise that anyone who has left those they treasure for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive many times more in this life and in the life to come.

Sinhalese (ROP3 - 109305) 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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