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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Waia of Papua New Guinea

The Waia of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 6,700 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Tabo is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Tabo (knv)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 6,700
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG010590
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Pray for the Waia of Papua New Guinea

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

26%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tabo
Language Family:

100%
%
Tabo Speakers

Media Resources in Tabo:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tabo:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2006 Bible Society of Papua New Guinea✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tabo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Waia 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 Waia:
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 Waia of Papua New Guinea

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
read1 John 4:10

Pray for those without the hope of Christ to understand the depth of God's love and the sacrifice He made for them.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
readPsalm 34:4

Pray for each who becomes a child of God to share the hope of eternity with family and friends.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
readGenesis 50:20

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will forgive those who do them harm and trust God as they walk in His ways.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
readRomans 12:4-5

Ask God to send believers to people in other cultures and to help them use their gifts in harmony with others so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Waia Across Countries (ROP3 - 110621) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
WaiaPG010590WaiaPapua New Guinea6,700Engaged yet UnreachedTaboEthnoreligion

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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