The Sakau of Vanuatu

The Sakau of Vanuatu, numbering approximately 7,200 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an Oceanic people of Sakao Island and the Port-Olry area on northeastern Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, whose language diverged phonologically from its closest island neighbors to the point of mutual unintelligibility despite shared ancestry They are an Indigenous people, with Sakau as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Vanuatu people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Sakao is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Vanuatu
People Cluster: Vanuatu
Primary Language(s): Sakao (sku)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 7,200
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG011058
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Sakau of Vanuatu

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

55%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sakao
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
N’kep Speakers

Media Resources in Sakao:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Sakao:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Sakao bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Sakau 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 Sakau:
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 Sakau of Vanuatu

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Thank the Lord for the people here and ask that His gospel will flow through this land to bring hope to those who are afflicted by the guilt of sin.

And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
readLuke 7:50

Pray for the good news of Jesus Christ to reach many so that they can place their faith in Him and have lasting hope.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
readPsalm 27:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will strengthen them when they face persecution of any kind for Jesus' name’s sake.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
readPsalm 51:2

Pray that God will raise up believers to go and share the gospel with those in this people group who need to be washed of their iniquity and cleansed from their sins.

Sakau Across Countries (ROP3 - 108534) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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