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The Deaf Svalbardians of Svalbard

The Deaf Svalbardians of Svalbard, numbering approximately 30 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a community of individuals who are culturally Deaf and actively participate in Deaf culture, often using sign language as their primary means of communication. They mostly adhere to Unknown and Norwegian Sign Language is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Deaf Svalbardian

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Deaf Peoples
Country: Svalbard
People Cluster: Deaf
Primary Language(s): Norwegian Sign Language (nsl)
Primary Religion(s): Unknown
Population: 30
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG050284

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Pray for the Deaf Svalbardians of Svalbard

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: Unknown
Religious Affiliation: Unknown

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%
Unknown Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Norwegian Sign Language
Language Family: Sign Language

—
%
Norwegian Sign Language Speakers

Media Resources in Norwegian Sign Language:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Norwegian Sign Language:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Norwegian Sign Language bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Deaf Svalbardians:
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

Pray specifically for the Deaf Svalbardians of Svalbard

But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven"
readMatthew 9:14

Pray that those who are spiritually dead will recognize their need for spiritual nourishment and turn to the One who offers true fulfillment.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that God will remove obstacles to the gospel so that many will see the hope He offers through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, and be transformed from being enemies to being His friends.

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
readLamentations 3:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and walk through trials, they will be satisfied with the Lord as their portion and will place all their hope in Him.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
readMatthew 28:19-20

Ask God to bring people among this group to faith in Jesus who will be obedient to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded.

Deaf Norwegian Across Countries (ROP3 - 116625) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▲CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Deaf NorwegiansPG047777Deaf NorwegiansNorway22,500Engaged yet UnreachedNorwegian Sign LanguageEthnoreligion
Deaf SvalbardiansPG050284Deaf SvalbardiansSvalbard30Unengaged and UnreachedNorwegian Sign LanguageUnknown

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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