The Ayoreo of Paraguay

The Ayoreo of Paraguay, numbering approximately 1,900 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are the only uncontacted Indigenous people outside the Amazon, first met by Jesuits who founded a mission in 1726 before a 1745 uprising ended it, with roughly 100 Ayoreo still living isolated in the Gran Chaco, most recently emerging from the forest in 2004. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Ayoreo is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Paraguay
People Cluster: South American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Ayoreo (ayo)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 1,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG017213
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Ayoreo of Paraguay

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ayoreo
Language Family: Zamucoan

100%
%
Ayoreo Speakers

Media Resources in Ayoreo:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Ayoreo:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1982 New Tribes Mission✓✓
2018 Ethnos 360✓✓✓

2 entries

Or check out the Ayoreo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Ayoreo 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 Ayoreo:
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 Ayoreo of Paraguay

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God".
readRomans 3:10-11

Pray that God will have mercy on those living in broken relationship with Him, and that He will bring many to surrender and repentance at the throne of grace.

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.

But you said, "I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude."
readGenesis 32:12

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will experience God's presence and protection even in difficult circumstances, knowing that He will make them fruitful.

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
readIsaiah 58:7

As believers cross cultures to share the good news of Christ, pray that God will sustain them and grow their faith as He gives them the compassion necessary to minister well to those in need.

Ayoreo Across Countries (ROP3 - 100666) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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