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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Western Pwo Karen of Myanmar

The Western Pwo Karen of Myanmar, numbering approximately 210,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Karen, an ethnic group indigenous to Kayin State in southeastern Myanmar They are an Indigenous people, with Karen as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Karen people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples. They mostly adhere to Animism and Pwo Western Karen is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Karen, Pow Western

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Karen
Primary Language(s): Pwo Western Karen (pwo)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 210,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG046602
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Pray for the Western Pwo Karen of Myanmar

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

61%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Pwo Western Karen
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

73%
%
Karen, Pwo Western Speakers

Media Resources in Pwo Western Karen:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Pwo Western Karen:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Pwo Western Karen bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Western Pwo Karen 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 Western Pwo Karen:
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 Western Pwo Karen of Myanmar

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
readJohn 8:32

Pray for those who live enslaved to sin to hear and receive the truth of the gospel and be set free.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that the lost will seek God and learn that they have a heavenly Father who loves them and wants them to live eternally with Him.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
readActs 4:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak God's Word with boldness, sharing the love of Jesus with those around them.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
read1 Corinthians 9:20

Pray that believers from similar cultures will be compelled by Christ's love to reach people who don't know the gospel, and that those people will receive the good news with joy.

Karen, Pwo Western Across Countries (ROP3 - 114923) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Western Pwo KarenPG046602Western Pwo KarenMyanmar210,000No Longer UnreachedPwo Western KarenAnimism

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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