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The Samoans of New Zealand

The Samoans of New Zealand, numbering approximately 177,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Polynesian ethnic group indigenous to the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in Polynesia that is politically and geographically divided between the Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States of America. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Samoan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: New Zealand
People Cluster: Polynesian
Primary Language(s): Samoan (smo)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 177,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG018506
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Pray for the Samoans of New Zealand

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

40%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Samoan
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Samoan Speakers

Media Resources in Samoan:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Samoan:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Bible Society of South Pacific✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Samoan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Samoans 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 Samoans:
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 Samoans of New Zealand

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
readIsaiah 53:6

Pray that those who have wandered far from God will be drawn back to Him, recognizing their need for a Savior and finding forgiveness and new life in Christ.

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
readPsalm 104:24

Pray that they will see the wisdom and power of God in His creation and praise Him for His mighty works.

Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
readActs 2:47

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will use their faith and their church community as a testimony to the watching world and grow His Church.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readLuke 10:2

Ask God to send out laborers into His harvest field, raising up believers from around the world to go and proclaim the kingdom of God with those who need to hear it.

Samoan Across Countries (ROP3 - 108580) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

9 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▲LanguageReligion
SamoansPG008236SamoansFiji1,300No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism
SamoansPG010683SamoansSamoa220,000No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism
SamoansPG011059SamoansVanuatu350No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism
SamoansPG018306SamoansTokelau150No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism
SamoansPG018321SamoansTuvalu50No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism
SamoansPG018506SamoansNew Zealand177,000No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism
SamoansPG043514SamoansUnited States70,000No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism
SamoansPG050229SamoansAmerican Samoa42,000No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism
SamoansPG050503SamoansCanada1,200No Longer UnreachedSamoanProtestantism

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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