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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Thai of Thailand

The Thai of Thailand, numbering approximately 22,850,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Tai people historically known as the Siamese whose homeland is the Chao Phraya basin of central Thailand and whose language and culture became dominant in the Thai nation-state. They mostly adhere to Theravada Buddhism and Thai is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Thailand
People Cluster: Thai
Primary Language(s): Thai (tha)
Primary Religion(s): Theravada Buddhism
Population: 22,850,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG010835
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Pray for the Thai 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: Theravada Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

98%
%
Theravada Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Thai
Language Family: Tai-Kadai

100%
%
Thai Speakers

Media Resources in Thai:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Thai:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
King James Version✓
Standard Version✓
Standard Version Revision✓
Thai Standard Version✓✓

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Thai bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Thai 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 Thai:
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 Thai of Thailand

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
readMatthew 13:8-9

Pray that they will have open hearts and minds to the Word of God, and that it will take root in their lives and bear fruit for His glory.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
readPsalm 9:18

Pray that God will raise up believers who can help meet emotional and physical needs among this people group. Ask Him to open doors for them and give them the courage to walk into difficult situations and share the hope of the gospel boldly.

Thai Across Countries (ROP3 - 101940) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

11 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ThaiPG043487ThaiCanada9,200Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG048524ThaiFrance10,500Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG050599ThaiHong Kong13,000Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG042413ThaiGermany20,500Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG008070ThaiAustralia30,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG018276ThaiMalaysia34,500Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG022044ThaiMyanmar45,500Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG022375ThaiCambodia47,000Unengaged and UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG010719ThaiSingapore64,500Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG043650ThaiUnited States195,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism
ThaiPG010835ThaiThailand22,850,000Engaged yet UnreachedThaiTheravada Buddhism

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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