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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Wolaitta of Ethiopia

The Wolaitta of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 3,060,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnic group living between the Belati and Omo rivers in Ethiopia. They are also known as Soddo. They are an Indigenous people in the Omotic people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Wolaytta and their primary religion is Protestantism.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Omotic
Primary Language(s): Wolaytta (wal)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 3,060,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG011653
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Pray for the Wolaitta of Ethiopia

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

71%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wolaytta
Language Family: Ta-Ne-Omotic

100%
%
Wolaytta Speakers

Media Resources in Wolaytta:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Wolaytta:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Wolaytta 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: 2), 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): Significantly Reached People Group, (LPI: 6), > 20% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical (GSEC: 6), this people group is greater than or equal to 10% evangelical

Next steps for the Wolaitta:
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 Wolaitta 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 Wolaitta:
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 Wolaitta 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 Wolaitta:
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 Wolaitta of Ethiopia

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
readJohn 3:18

Pray for those who are living under the burden of their sin to believe in Jesus, the only Son of God, and receive freedom.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
readLamentations 3:23-23

Pray that they will have hope in the Lord, knowing that His compassions never fails and that His mercies are new every morning.

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
read1 Peter 3:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will always be prepared to share the reason for the hope that they have in Jesus with gentleness and respect.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
readJohn 12:24

Pray that God will raise up men and women who are willing to die to their own desires, bearing much fruit for the kingdom among individuals and in places where His gospel has not been proclaimed.

Wolaitta Across Countries (ROP3 - 110640) 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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