The Moken of Myanmar

The Moken of Myanmar, numbering approximately 4,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an Indigenous Austronesian sea‑nomadic people who traditionally live throughout the Mergui Archipelago (Myanmar) and the Andaman Sea waters of Thailand Sea Nomads, Chao Lay, Salone They are an Indigenous people, with Moken as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Malay people cluster of the Malay Peoples. Their primary religion is Animism. They primarily speak Moken.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Moken

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Malay
Primary Language(s): Moken (mwt)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 4,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG009486
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Moken of Myanmar

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

80%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Moken
Language Family: Austronesian

73%
%
Moken Speakers

Media Resources in Moken:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Moken:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Moken bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Moken 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 Moken:
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 Moken of Myanmar

For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?
readPsalm 18:31

As people look to their own efforts for hope, pray they will have the opportunity to learn and believe in the Lord, who is the only Rock worthy of their faith.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
read1 Timothy 2:5-6

Pray for the truth about Jesus Christ to spread among the lost so that many will accept His ransom for their sin and experience freedom in a relationship with Him.

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
read1 Peter 3:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will always be prepared to share the reason for the hope that they have in Jesus with gentleness and respect.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Moken Across Countries (ROP3 - 106723) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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.

Scroll to Top