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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Goans of United Arab Emirates

The Goans of United Arab Emirates, numbering approximately 74,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese, and Austro-Asiatic ethnic groups who trace their ancestry to the Indian state of Goa during the time when Goa was an overseas province of Portugal. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Goan Konkani is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Konkani, Goanese

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: United Arab Emirates
People Cluster: Marathi-Konkani
Primary Language(s): Goan Konkani (gom)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 74,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012241

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Pray for the Goans of United Arab Emirates

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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Goan Konkani
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Konkani, Goan Speakers

Media Resources in Goan Konkani:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Goan Konkani:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Goan Konkani bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Goans 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 Goans:
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 Goans of United Arab Emirates

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
readEphesians 2:4-5

Pray that those who have not yet received new life will be made alive together with Christ, saved by grace and raised up with Him to newness of life.

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
readPsalm 96:2

Pray that gospel resources will reach this generation so that they will receive the good news and sing to the LORD, bless His name, and tell of His salvation each day.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
read2 Corinthians 5:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will understand and experience the truth that in Christ, they are a new creation, and the old has gone and the new has come.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.
readPsalm 57:9

Pray that God will raise up believers among them who will boldly go and share the gospel with people nearby and with those far away.

Goan Across Countries (ROP3 - 104844) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

7 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
GoansPG000635GoansUnited Kingdom12,000Engaged yet UnreachedGoan KonkaniRoman Catholicism
GoansPG006349GoansPakistan81,500No Longer UnreachedGoan KonkaniHinduism
GoansPG012241GoansUnited Arab Emirates74,500Engaged yet UnreachedGoan KonkaniHinduism
GoansPG015378GoansMozambique18,500Engaged yet UnreachedGoan KonkaniRoman Catholicism
GoansPG041474GoansIndia669,000No Longer UnreachedKonkani (individual language)Roman Catholicism
GoansPG050393GoansCanada5,300No Longer UnreachedGoan KonkaniRoman Catholicism
GoansPG050513GoansUnited States7,600Unengaged and UnreachedEnglishRoman Catholicism

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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