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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tai Men of Laos

The Tai Men of Laos, numbering approximately 12,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Laos They are an Indigenous people, with Tai Men as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Tai people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Animism. They primarily speak Tai Yo.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Laos
People Cluster: Tai
Primary Language(s): Tai Yo (tyj)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 12,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG020949

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Pray for the Tai Men of Laos

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

99%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tai Yo
Language Family: Tai-Kadai

68%
%
Tai Yo Speakers

Media Resources in Tai Yo:

Films:

No entries found for: Tai Yo(tyj). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Tai Yo:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tai Yo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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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): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% to 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active 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 Tai Men:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tai Men 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 Tai Men:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tai Men 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 Tai Men:
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 Tai Men of Laos

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
readRomans 5:7-8

Pray for the many who don't yet understand the hope of the gospel, and pray that God will reveal to them that while they were in darkness, Christ died for them.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
readPsalm 67:4

Pray that God will use ways from in-person witnesses to digital gospel resources to bring the joy of His salvation to everyone so that they can be glad in Him and sing for joy.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
readHebrews 10:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will love and encourage one another, spurring each other on to live lives that honor God.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
read2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will serve others in Jesus' name, and the lost will have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel.

Tai Men Across Countries (ROP3 - 109717) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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