Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

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
Be sure to use the data import function in your favorite app for working with data.
If you'd like to help improve these translations, Contact Us.

The Bawean of Indonesia

The Bawean of Indonesia, numbering approximately 99,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indonesian island community descended from Madurese settlers who arrived by the late 14th century, distinguished today by merantau, a long-standing tradition of migrating for work to Singapore and Malaysia that has shaped Bawean life for generations. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Madurese is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Madura of Java
Primary Language(s): Madurese (mad)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 99,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022423
View on Joshua Project

Print Profile
Submit Updates

Pray for the Bawean of Indonesia

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!
Download Prayer Guide

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Madurese
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Madura Speakers

Media Resources in Madurese:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Madurese:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Today's Madura Version, 1994✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Madurese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Bawean 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 Bawean:
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 Bawean of Indonesia

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed"
readGalatians 3:8

Ask the Lord to fulfill His promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed by advancing the gospel to every people group who has yet to receive it.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and suffer for their faith, they will sing for joy and be glad in their hearts because the Lord has compassion on them.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Bawean Across Countries (ROP3 - 101162) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BaweanPG022423BaweanIndonesia99,500Engaged yet UnreachedMadureseSunni Islam

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.

Scroll to Top