The Citak Asmat of Indonesia

The Citak Asmat of Indonesia, numbering approximately 13,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a matrilineal Asmat subgroup who call themselves Kau, distinct from the region's other patrilineal Asmat divisions, inhabiting South Papua's alluvial swamps first reached by Dutch traders in 1623 and later incorporated into Indonesia. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Citak is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Citak (txt)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 13,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022896
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Citak Asmat 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

48%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Citak
Language Family: Nuclear Trans New Guinea

100%
%
Citak Speakers

Media Resources in Citak:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Citak:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Citak bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Citak Asmat 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 Citak Asmat:
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 Citak Asmat of Indonesia

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
readPsalm 25:5

Pray that the gospel will advance and that God will lead people in His truth, bringing many to salvation.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
readPsalm 6:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will remind them that He is near and will help them place their hope in Him when others wish to do them harm.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

Citak Asmat Across Countries (ROP3 - 102236) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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