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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tai Kaleun of Laos

The Tai Kaleun of Laos, numbering approximately 12,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Tai peoples of northern Thailand and central Laos and can also be known as Laoeng, Lao Thai. They are an Diaspora people, in the Tai people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Thai, Northeastern.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Peoples of Laos, Asia Harvest Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Peoples
Country: Laos
People Cluster: Tai
Primary Language(s): Thai, Northeastern (tts)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 12,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG033469

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Pray for the Tai Kaleun of Laos

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Thai, Northeastern
Language Family: Kra-Dai

%
Thai, Northeastern Speakers

Media Resources in Thai, Northeastern:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Thai, Northeastern:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

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Next steps for the Tai Kaleun

The Tai Kaleun are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Tai Kaleun

The Tai Kaleun are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Tai Kaleun

The Tai Kaleun 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Tai Kaleun of Laos

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"
readJohn 4:13-14

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will drink of the living water that only Christ can provide and never thirst again.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
readActs 6:7

Pray that the Word of God will be increasingly available to these people in ways they will resonate with so that all may have a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.  

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
readPhilippians 3:20-21

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember their citizenship is in heaven.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
readEphesians 6:13

Pray that God will send believers to the lost of this people group and that, as they share the gospel, they will take up the whole armor of God so that they can stand firm when trials come.

Tai Kaleun reported in the following countries (ROP3):

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 Definitions page.

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