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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portuguese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Español | Tagalog / Filipino
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The Lao of Vietnam

The Lao of Vietnam, numbering approximately 206,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Lao community in Vietnam descended from migrants from Laos that preserves the language, traditions, and cultural heritage of the Lao people. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Lao is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Vietnam
People Cluster: Lao
Primary Language(s): Lao (lao)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 206,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011173
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Pray for the Lao of Vietnam

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Lao
Language Family: Tai-Kadai

100%
%
Lao Speakers

Media Resources in Lao:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Lao:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Revised Lao Version✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Lao bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Lao:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Lao of Vietnam

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

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.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
readMatthew 16:18b

Pray that God will build and grow His Church among this people.

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
readPsalm 23:3

Pray for believers to go and share the gospel with others here. Ask that God will restore their souls and lead them in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Lao Across Countries (ROP3 - 105643) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

8 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
LaoPG009139LaoLaos3,980,000Engaged yet UnreachedLaoTheravada Buddhism
LaoPG046485LaoUnited States236,000Engaged yet UnreachedLaoTheravada Buddhism
LaoPG011173LaoVietnam206,000Unengaged and UnreachedLaoEthnoreligion
LaoPG020442LaoCambodia41,000Engaged yet UnreachedLaoTheravada Buddhism
LaoPG009467LaoMyanmar26,000No Longer UnreachedLaoTheravada Buddhism
LaoPG000172LaoFrance19,500Engaged yet UnreachedLaoTheravada Buddhism
LaoPG043429LaoCanada17,000Engaged yet UnreachedLaoTheravada Buddhism
LaoPG017347LaoArgentina2,300Unengaged and UnreachedLaoTheravada 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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