The Riffi Imazighen of France

The Riffi Imazighen of France, numbering approximately 138,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a subgroup of the Indigenous Amazigh peoples of North Africa, united by a shared Amazigh heritage, related Tamazight languages, and a long history of adaptation across the mountains, coasts, and deserts of the Maghreb. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Tarifit is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Amazigh, Riffi

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: France
People Cluster: Amazigh-Riff
Primary Language(s): Tarifit (rif)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 138,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011677
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tarifit
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Tarifit Speakers

Media Resources in Tarifit:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Bible Resources in Tarifit:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Arabic Script✓✓✓
Latin Script✓✓✓

2 entries

Or check out the Tarifit bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent 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 Riffi Imazighen:
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

Pray specifically for the Riffi Imazighen of France

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
readPsalm 130:4

Pray that God will bring those who have hard hearts to repentance and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

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.

And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
readActs 16:15

Pray that God will bring entire families and households to faith in Him and raise up servant-leaders from among them.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

Amazigh, Riffian Across Countries (ROP3 - 101275) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
ImazighenImazighenNetherlands168,000Unengaged and UnreachedCentral Atlas TamazightSunni Islam
Riffi ImazighenRiffi ImazighenFrance138,000Unengaged and UnreachedTarifitSunni Islam
Riffi ImazighenRiffi ImazighenMorocco2,285,000Engaged yet UnreachedTarifitSunni Islam

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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