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The Phongku of Laos

The Phongku of Laos, numbering approximately 1,900 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Phunoi subgroup of northern Laos who belong to the broader Tibeto-Burman tradition and maintain a distinct identity in the highland communities of Phongsaly Province. They mostly adhere to Folk Buddhism and Phunoi is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Tibetan Peoples
Country: Laos
People Cluster: Other Tibeto-Burmese
Primary Language(s): Phunoi (pho)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Buddhism
Population: 1,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources
People Group ID: PG050549
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Pray for the Phongku of Laos

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

100%
%
Folk Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Phunoi
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

70%
%
Phunoi Speakers

Media Resources in Phunoi:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Phunoi:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Phunoi 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): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources (GSEC: 0), there are no evangelical Christians or churches among this people group and there is no access to evangelical print, audio, visual or human resources

Next steps for the Phongku:
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 Phongku of Laos

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
readJohn 8:12

Pray that many will come to know Jesus, the light of the world, and have the light of life instead of walking in darkness.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
readHebrews 10:35

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hold unswervingly to their faith and to their confidence in Christ, which has a great reward.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
readRevelation 7:9-10

Pray that the promise in Revelation 7:9-10 will encourage believers from among them or from nearby people groups to share the gospel with people who have never learned it.

Phongku Across Countries (ROP3 - 119528) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▲NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
PhongkuPG050549PhongkuLaos1,900Unengaged and UnreachedPhunoiFolk Buddhism

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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