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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Kanum of Indonesia

The Kanum of Indonesia, numbering approximately 750 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Marind subgroup of Merauke Regency near the PNG border, with their own Yam-family language closer to Yei than to Marind, organized into named clans including Mbanggu, Ndimar, and Sanggra across the swamp-and-savanna territory of Wasur National Park. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Ngkâlmpw Kanum is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Ngkâlmpw Kanum (kcd)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 750
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022938
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Pray for the Kanum 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!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

50%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ngkâlmpw Kanum
Language Family: Yam

76%
%
Kanum, Ngkâlmpw Speakers

Media Resources in Ngkâlmpw Kanum:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Ngkâlmpw Kanum:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Ngkâlmpw Kanum bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Kanum 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 Kanum:
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 Kanum of Indonesia

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
readPsalm 19:3

Pray that God will lead them to His Word, and where it is not available, ask that He will raise up those who will produce gospel media in their heart language.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
readPsalm 22:27

Pray that all families of the nations will worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.

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.

Kanum Across Countries (ROP3 - 104601) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▲NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
KanumPG010028KanumPapua New Guinea550No Longer UnreachedNgkâlmpw KanumAnimism
KanumPG022938KanumIndonesia750No Longer UnreachedNgkâlmpw KanumProtestantism

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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