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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

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
readPsalm 19:1

Pray that those who are lost will look to the heavens and see the glory of God displayed, leading them to seek Him and know Him as their Creator and Savior.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
readPsalm 96:8

Pray for people here to humbly give God the glory due His name.

And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
readZechariah 2:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have a heart that longs to see all people from all parts of the world worshiping Jesus as He deserves.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
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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