The Cabécar of Costa Rica

The Cabécar of Costa Rica, numbering approximately 15,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Indigenous people of Costa Rica, belonging to the Chibchan language family and recognized as one of the country’s largest and most culturally resilient native groups. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Cabécar is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Costa Rica
People Cluster: Central American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Cabécar (cjp)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 15,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG025024
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Cabécar of Costa Rica

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: Cabécar
Language Family: Chibchan

78%
%
Cabécar Speakers

Media Resources in Cabécar:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Cabécar:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Traducciones al Cabecar✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Cabécar bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Cabécar 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 Cabécar:
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 Cabécar of Costa Rica

Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!
readPsalm 30:10

Pray that people in the depths of despair and suffering and living outside of relationship with Christ will cry out to the Lord and find help, peace, and joy in Him.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
readPsalm 96:8

Pray for people here to humbly give God the glory due His name.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
readJohn 10:29

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice as they remember that they can never lose their salvation

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
readHebrews 4:12

Pray that God will make His living and active Word available to everyone in this people group so that many will respond to the gospel. Ask Him to provide Jesus-followers to walk with new believers as they grow in Him.

Chirripo (Cabécar ) Across Countries (ROP3 - 102163) 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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