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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
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Spanish - Español | Tagalog / Filipino
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The Akha of Thailand

The Akha of Thailand, numbering approximately 58,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Tibeto-Burman hill people whose ancestors migrated south from the Tibetan-Yunnan plateau in the 1600s fleeing political upheaval, passing through Burma's Shan State before settling Thailand's Chiang Rai highlands around 1903. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Akha is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Himalayan Peoples
Country: Thailand
People Cluster: Hani-Akha
Primary Language(s): Akha (ahk)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 58,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010820
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Pray for the Akha of Thailand

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

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Akha
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Akha Speakers

Media Resources in Akha:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Akha:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2001 Thailand Bible Society✓✓✓
Bibles International✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Akha bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Akha 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 Akha:
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 Akha of Thailand

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
read1 Timothy 6:9

Pray for those, rich and poor, who have put their trust in worldly things, and ask that they will be honest with themselves, acknowledge their need for God and turn to Him.

Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, "the kingdom of God has come near to you."
readLuke 10:8-9

Pray that the lost will receive messengers of the gospel with joy, turn from their sins, and be healed.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
readPsalm 51:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence that God has turned His face from their sins and forgiven their iniquities.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
readActs 17:32

Ask God to give those He sends to cross cultures wisdom and discernment as they engage in spiritual conversations with those who are curious about the gospel.

Akha Across Countries (ROP3 - 100185) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▲Religion
AkhaPG009402AkhaMyanmar230,000No Longer UnreachedAkhaAnimism
AkhaPG010820AkhaThailand58,000No Longer UnreachedAkhaEthnoreligion
AkhaPG011106AkhaVietnam1,700Engaged yet UnreachedAkhaAnimism
AkhaPG020893AkhaLaos113,000Unengaged and UnreachedAkhaAnimism
AkhaPG047616AkhaChina311,000Engaged yet UnreachedHaniChinese Folk Religion

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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