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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Padaung Karen of Thailand

The Padaung Karen of Thailand, numbering approximately 2,800 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Karen, an ethnic group of Sino-Tibetan language-speaking people indigenous to the Kayin State in southeastern Myanmar. They mostly adhere to Animism and Kayan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Thailand
People Cluster: Karen
Primary Language(s): Kayan (pdu)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 2,800
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010902
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Pray for the Padaung Karen 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kayan
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Kayan (Myanmar) Speakers

Media Resources in Kayan:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Kayan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Kayan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Padaung Karen 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 Padaung Karen:
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 Padaung Karen of Thailand

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
readMark 10:15

Pray for those who might be trapped in pride, that God will humble them and give them a childlike faith and complete dependence on Him through faith in Christ.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
readIsaiah 40:8

Pray that everyone has access to God's Word and that those who hear the good news will turn from their sins and put their faith in Jesus the Messiah.

And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.”
readGenesis 15:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust God to keep His promises.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
readPsalm 15:1-2

Ask God to send believers who will go and, with integrity, walk blamelessly and do what is right, speaking truth about the Lord with those who need to learn about His redemption plan.

Karen, Kayan Across Countries (ROP3 - 107734) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Kayan KarenPG009497Kayan KarenMyanmar133,000No Longer UnreachedKayanAnimism
Padaung KarenPG010902Padaung KarenThailand2,800No Longer UnreachedKayanAnimism

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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