The Chakmas of Bangladesh

The Chakmas of Bangladesh, numbering approximately 492,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a scheduled tribe of India, Tripura, Mizoram, Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal, also in Bangladesh, southeast, Chittagong Hills. They mostly adhere to Folk Buddhism and Chakma is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Bangladesh
People Cluster: South Asian Tribal
Primary Language(s): Chakma (ccp)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Buddhism
Population: 492,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity
People Group ID: PG001162
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Chakmas of Bangladesh

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: Folk Buddhism
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

80%
%
Folk Buddhism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Chakma
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Chakma Speakers

Media Resources in Chakma:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Chakma:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2012 Bibles International✓

1 entry

Or check out the Chakma bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Chakmas 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.

Next steps for the Chakmas:
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

Pray specifically for the Chakmas of Bangladesh

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
readMatthew 5:44-45

Pray for those who don't know Jesus to encounter believers who are kind and compassionate and that their imitation of Christ will serve as a testimony that attracts lost people to Jesus.

Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
readPsalm 150:2

Pray for the gospel to advance among those who are living in darkness. Pray that they will come to know Jesus and praise Him for all that He has done.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
readEphesians 2:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember God's mercy and grace and experience joy as they walk in new life with Christ.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Chakma Across Countries (ROP3 - 101976) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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.

Scroll to Top