The Iaian of New Caledonia

The Iaian of New Caledonia, numbering approximately 4,900 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of New Caledonia, Ouvea Island, Loyalty Islands They are an Indigenous people, with Iaian as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the New Caledonia people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. Their primary religion is Roman Catholicism. They primarily speak Iaai.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: New Caledonia
People Cluster: New Caledonia
Primary Language(s): Iaai (iai)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 4,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG018340
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Iaian of New Caledonia

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: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

91%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Iaai
Language Family: Austronesian

78%
%
Iaai Speakers

Media Resources in Iaai:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Iaai:

Or check out the Iaai bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 2), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Moderately Reached People Group, (LPI: 5), 6% to 20% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical (GSEC: 6), this people group is greater than or equal to 10% evangelical

Next steps for the Iaian:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Iaian 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 Iaian:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Iaian 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 Iaian:
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 Iaian of New Caledonia

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
read1 John 4:10

Pray for those without the hope of Christ to understand the depth of God's love and the sacrifice He made for them.

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
read1 John 4:21

Pray that the good news of God's love will reach everyone in this people group, and that His love will compel them to love others as Christ has loved us.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
readPsalm 121:1-2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and experience hardship, God will remind them that their help comes from the One who made heaven and earth and that He is powerful to meet their needs.

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.

Iaian Across Countries (ROP3 - 115561) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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