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

The Phu Thai of Vietnam

The Phu Thai of Vietnam, numbering approximately 144,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Tai people whose ancestors migrated south from Yunnan between the 7th and 13th centuries, tracing their original homeland to the Dien Bien Phu area, retaining animist beliefs more strongly than related Tai groups in Thailand They are an Indigenous people, with Phu Tai as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Tai people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples. They mostly adhere to Animism and Phu Thai is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Vietnam
People Cluster: Tai
Primary Language(s): Phu Thai (pht)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 144,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011200
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Pray for the Phu Thai 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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

96%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Phu Thai
Language Family: Tai-Kadai

100%
%
Phu Thai Speakers

Media Resources in Phu Thai:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Phu Thai:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Phu Thai bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Phu 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 Phu 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 Phu Thai of Vietnam

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
readJohn 8:32

Pray for those who live enslaved to sin to hear and receive the truth of the gospel and be set free.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
read1 Timothy 2:5-6

Pray for the truth about Jesus Christ to spread among the lost so that many will accept His ransom for their sin and experience freedom in a relationship with Him.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
readPsalm 22:27

Pray that all families of the nations will worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.

And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."
readRomans 15:20-21

Pray that God will send believers to cross cultures and proclaim the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that the nations might glorify God for His mercy.

Phu Tai Across Countries (ROP3 - 108016) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
Phu ThaiPG009164Phu ThaiLaos264,000Engaged yet UnreachedPhu ThaiTheravada Buddhism
Phu ThaiPG010907Phu ThaiThailand459,000Engaged yet UnreachedPhu ThaiTheravada Buddhism
Phu ThaiPG011200Phu ThaiVietnam144,000Engaged yet UnreachedPhu ThaiAnimism

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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