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The Maria of Papua New Guinea

The Maria of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 3,300 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea, Central province: Marshall Lagoon to Mt. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Maria (Papua New Guinea) is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Maria

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Maria (Papua New Guinea) (mds)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 3,300
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010188
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Pray for the Maria of Papua New Guinea

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

40%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Maria (Papua New Guinea)
Language Family: Manubaran

100%
%
Maria (Papua New Guinea) Speakers

Media Resources in Maria (Papua New Guinea):

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Maria (Papua New Guinea):

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Maria (Papua New Guinea) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Maria 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 Maria:
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 Maria of Papua New Guinea

That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:27

Pray that those who don't yet know Christ will search diligently for God and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the gospel of God's kingdom will reach more people and that they will respond in faith, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
readPsalm 37:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will delight themselves in the Lord, trusting Him to give them the desires of their hearts.

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
read2 Corinthians 3:16

Give thanks to God for believers around the world who are willing to cross cultures to share the gospel with those who are perishing. Pray that He will work through their witness to draw many to turn to Him.

Maria Across Countries (ROP3 - 106331) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MariaPG010188MariaPapua New Guinea3,300No Longer UnreachedMaria (Papua New Guinea)Protestantism

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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