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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
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Wayana of French Guiana

The Wayana of French Guiana, numbering approximately 2,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Carib-speaking Amazonian people of the upper Maroni River basin descended from the merger of smaller groups including the Upului, Opagwana, and Kukuyana, never formally colonized due to the region's dense rainforest. They mostly adhere to Animism and Wayana is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: French Guiana
People Cluster: South American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Wayana (way)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 2,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG016344
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Pray for the Wayana of French Guiana

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

91%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wayana
Language Family: Cariban

100%
%
Wayana Speakers

Media Resources in Wayana:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Wayana:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1979 World Team✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Wayana bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Wayana 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 Wayana:
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 Wayana of French Guiana

"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.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
readIsaiah 30:21

As the lost in this people group seek to know the truth of who God is, pray that the Spirit of God will draw them to Himself and guide them in the way they should go.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
readPsalm 37:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will delight themselves in the Lord, trusting Him to give them the desires of their hearts.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
readActs 1:8

Pray that God will raise up believers who are willing to cross cultures and boldly share the good news of Jesus with the lost in this people group and from every nation.

Wayana Across Countries (ROP3 - 110731) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▲
WayanaPG016344WayanaFrench Guiana2,000Engaged yet UnreachedWayanaAnimism
WayanaPG017184WayanaBrazil300No Longer UnreachedWayanaFolk Catholicism
WayanaPG016441WayanaSuriname650No Longer UnreachedWayanaProtestantism

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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