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The Avau of Papua New Guinea

The Avau of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 20,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Avau is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Avau (avb)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 20,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG018287
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Pray for the Avau of Papua New Guinea

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: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

81%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Avau
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Avau Speakers

Media Resources in Avau:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Avau:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Avau bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Avau 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 Avau:
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 Avau of Papua New Guinea

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
readMatthew 9:36

Pray that those who have no hope and are in need of a Savior will be comforted by the Good Shepherd, who seeks to gather the lost and weary into His care.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
readPsalm 22:27-28

Pray that entire families will turn to the Lord in repentance and faith, and that they will worship Him and declare His righteousness to the nations.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
readRomans 10:12

Pray that as people from different backgrounds place their faith in Christ, they will be unified by their faith Him.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
readActs 13:47

Pray that as people come to faith, they will follow the Lord's leading to go to their neighbors and share the treasure they found in Christ.

Avau Across Countries (ROP3 - 100635) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▲CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AvauPG018287AvauPapua New Guinea20,000No Longer UnreachedAvauRoman 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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