The Jamaicans of Panama

The Jamaicans of Panama, numbering approximately 210,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Afro-Caribbean diaspora community in Panama descended largely from Jamaican migrants. They speak Jamaican English Creole and English or Spanish, and maintain a distinct cultural identity shaped by Caribbean heritage and canal-era migration. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Jamaican Creole English is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Jamaican

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: North American Peoples
Country: Panama
People Cluster: Afro-American
Primary Language(s): Jamaican Creole English (jam)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 210,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG024835
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Jamaicans of Panama

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Jamaican Creole English
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Jamaican English Creole Speakers

Media Resources in Jamaican Creole English:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Jamaican Creole English:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Bible Society of the West Indies✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Jamaican Creole English bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Jamaicans 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 Jamaicans:
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 Jamaicans of Panama

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.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
readMatthew 13: 45-46

Pray that they will recognize the treasure of knowing Christ Jesus and be willing to give up everything else to gain Him.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
read2 Corinthians 5:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will understand and experience the truth that in Christ, they are a new creation, and the old has gone and the new has come.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
readMark 1:17-18

Pray that God will raise up believers from this place and/or other cultures nearby to proclaim the gospel to those who desperately need to encounter it.

Jamaican Across Countries (ROP3 - 104168) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

11 people groups

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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