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

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
readPsalm 20:7

Pray for those who trust in anything other than the Lord to be convicted of their sin and learn about what Jesus did for them so that they can choose to trust in Him.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
readPsalm 67:4

Pray that God will use ways from in-person witnesses to digital gospel resources to bring the joy of His salvation to everyone so that they can be glad in Him and sing for joy.

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot... indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
readPsalm 16:5-6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and face hardship, they will remember that God is their portion and cup and that He has a beautiful inheritance for 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.

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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