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The Burgher of Sri Lanka

The Burgher of Sri Lanka, numbering approximately 45,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Eurasian ethnic group in Sri Lanka descended from Dutch, British and other European men who settled in Sri Lanka and intermarried with Sri Lankan women. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Indo-Portuguese is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Sri Lanka
People Cluster: Sinhala
Primary Language(s): Indo-Portuguese (idb)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 45,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG006434
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Pray for the Burgher of Sri Lanka

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: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Indo-Portuguese
Language Family: Indo-European

78%
%
Indo-Portuguese Speakers

Media Resources in Indo-Portuguese:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Indo-Portuguese:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Indo-Portuguese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Burgher 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.

Next steps for the Burgher:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Burgher of Sri Lanka

Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
readJerremiah 32:17

Pray that the God who made the heavens and the earth by the power of His outstretched arm, the One who is able to save those who are lost, will show His great love and mercy to those who are walking in darkness.

Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
readIsaiah 55:5

Pray that those who do not know God will access the gospel, run to Him, and discover that He is the one their souls have been longing for.

In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
readPsalm 56:10-11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the Lord's promises, knowing that He will uphold them with His righteous right hand.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
read2 Corinthians 5:21

Pray that Christians will cross cultures and share the hope of Christ, and that many will trust the One who took their sins and offers them His righteousness.

Burgher Across Countries (ROP3 - 111732) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▲CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BurgherPG006434BurgherSri Lanka45,000No Longer UnreachedIndo-PortugueseRoman Catholicism

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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