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The Northern Pwo Karen of Thailand

The Northern Pwo Karen of Thailand, numbering approximately 85,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Karen indigenous to the Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Tak, and Mae Hong Son provinces of Thailand. They mostly adhere to Animism and Pwo Northern Karen is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Karen, Pwo Northern

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Thailand
People Cluster: Karen
Primary Language(s): Pwo Northern Karen (pww)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 85,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010936
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Pray for the Northern Pwo 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

84%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Pwo Northern Karen
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Karen, Pwo Northern Speakers

Media Resources in Pwo Northern Karen:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Pwo Northern Karen:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Thailand Bible Society✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Pwo Northern Karen bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Northern Pwo 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 Northern Pwo 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 Northern Pwo Karen of Thailand

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
readPsalm 130:4

Pray that God will bring those who have hard hearts to repentance and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
readPsalm 119:97

Pray that the lost will have access to God's Word in their language and treasure it deeply, meditating on God's promises and precepts.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
read2 Corinthians 12:10

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will embrace their weaknesses, hardships, and difficulties, having hope because Christ's power is made perfect in their weakness.

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
readPsalm 96:10

Pray for God to put in the hearts of believers to go to the lost and testify about the Lord who reigns.

Karen, Pwo Northern Across Countries (ROP3 - 110820) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▲
Northern Pwo KarenPG010936Northern Pwo KarenThailand85,000No Longer UnreachedPwo Northern KarenAnimism

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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