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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Oriya of Myanmar

The Oriya of Myanmar, numbering approximately 154,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a transient ethnolinguistic community originating from the Odisha (Orissa) state of India They are an Diaspora people, with Orisi (Odia) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Odia people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. They mostly adhere to Folk Hinduism and Odia is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Odia
Primary Language(s): Odia (ory)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 154,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG009496
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Pray for the Oriya 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

96%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Odia
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Odia Speakers

Media Resources in Odia:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Odia:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1997 Bible League International✓✓
Easy to Read Version✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Odia bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Oriya 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 Oriya:
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 Oriya of Myanmar

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
readMatthew 5:6

Pray for those who are lost to desire righteousness and to be filled with the peace and purpose that only comes from following Jesus.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the gospel of God's kingdom will reach more people and that they will respond in faith, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
readColossians 2:6-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be rooted and built up in Him, abounding in thanksgiving for the grace and mercy He has shown them.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that God will send and sustain believers to cross cultures and share the gospel with the lost. Ask that He will give them His heart for the lost and that many will believe in Him and not perish but have eternal life.

Orisi Across Countries (ROP3 - 107677) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
OriyaPG009496OriyaMyanmar154,000Engaged yet UnreachedOdiaFolk Hinduism
OriyaPG001196OriyaBangladesh43,000Engaged yet UnreachedOdiaHinduism

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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