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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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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

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
readJohn 8:32

Pray for those who live enslaved to sin to hear and receive the truth of the gospel and be set free.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
readPsalm 8:1

Pray that those who have yet to believe will soon recognize the majesty of God's name and raise their voices in praise to the Lord Almighty.

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
readEphesians 5:32-33

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will grasp the profound mystery of Christ's love for the Church, reflecting this love in their marriages.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ...that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
readColossians 4:3-4

Ask God to open doors for believers to share the gospel and help them communicate it clearly so that more people will understand the mystery of Christ and turn to follow Him.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AkhaPG047616AkhaChina311,000Engaged yet UnreachedHaniChinese Folk Religion
AkhaPG009402AkhaMyanmar230,000No Longer UnreachedAkhaAnimism
AkhaPG020893AkhaLaos113,000Unengaged and UnreachedAkhaAnimism
AkhaPG010820AkhaThailand58,000No Longer UnreachedAkhaEthnoreligion
AkhaPG011106AkhaVietnam1,700Engaged yet UnreachedAkhaAnimism

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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