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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Deaf Burmese of Myanmar

The Deaf Burmese of Myanmar, numbering approximately 526,000 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 are an Indigenous people, in the Deaf people cluster of the Deaf Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Myanmar Sign Language.

Deaf Burmese in Myanmar photo
Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Deaf Burmese

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Deaf Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Deaf
Primary Language(s): Myanmar Sign Language (ysm)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 526,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG047780

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Pray for the Deaf Burmese of Myanmar

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Myanmar Sign Language
Language Family: Sign language

%
Myanmar Sign Language Speakers

Media Resources in Myanmar Sign Language:

Films:

No entries found for: Myanmar Sign Language(ysm). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Myanmar Sign Language:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Myanmar Sign Language bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Deaf Burmese

The Deaf Burmese are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Deaf Burmese

The Deaf Burmese 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.

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

Next steps for the Deaf Burmese

The Deaf Burmese 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Deaf Burmese of Myanmar

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
readPsalm 73:26

Pray that those who are lost and struggling to find hope will find their strength and hope in God, recognizing Him as their portion and deliverer forever.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
readJohn 6:35

Pray that the lost will come to Jesus and believe in Him, never to hunger or thirst again.

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
readPsalm 105:3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will glory in His holy name and that their hearts will rejoice.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
read1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Pray that God will raise up believers to go to the lost and faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection so that all may have an opportunity to access and believe.

Deaf (ROP3 - 114916) 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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