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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Athpare Rai of Nepal

The Athpare Rai of Nepal, numbering approximately 83,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indigenous Kiranti community centered in the hills around Dhankuta in eastern Nepal, with traditions linking their origins to their present homeland. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Dungmali is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Himalayan Peoples
Country: Nepal
People Cluster: South Himalayan
Primary Language(s): Dungmali (raa)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 83,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG006167
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Pray for the Athpare Rai of Nepal

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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

80%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dungmali
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

71%
%
Dungmali Speakers

Media Resources in Dungmali:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Dungmali:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Dungmali bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Athpare Rai 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 Athpare Rai:
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 Athpare Rai of Nepal

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
readJohn 3:18

Pray for those who are living under the burden of their sin to believe in Jesus, the only Son of God, and receive freedom.

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.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
readRomans 8:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember the God who has given them freedom from fear so that they will trust Him completely as their good Father who meets all their needs.

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
read2 Corinthians 1:5

When any who might believe suffer for the sake of the gospel, ask God to deepen their understanding of His grace so that they may share it freely with those who have not received it.

Rai, Athpare Across Countries (ROP3 - 100597) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Athpare RaiPG006167Athpare RaiNepal83,000Engaged yet UnreachedDungmaliHinduism

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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