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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
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Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bata of Nigeria

The Bata of Nigeria, numbering approximately 342,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a branch of the Bwatiye people of northeastern Nigeria, centered in Adamawa State and closely related to the Bachama, with a traditional kingship headed by the Hama Bata. They mostly adhere to Animism and Bata is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bata

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Bata (bta)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 342,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013677
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Pray for the Bata of Nigeria

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

70%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bata
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Bata Speakers

Media Resources in Bata:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Bata:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bata bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bata 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 Bata:
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 Bata of Nigeria

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
readPsalm 10:17-18

Pray that God, in accordance with His good character, will give justice to those who are oppressed by sin and that they will know that His offer of salvation is for everyone.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
readIsaiah 30:21

As the lost in this people group seek to know the truth of who God is, pray that the Spirit of God will draw them to Himself and guide them in the way they should go.

Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.
readJohn 17:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will experience freedom from sin as God sanctifies them in the truth of His Word.

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
readIsaiah 40:9

Pray for God to send and sustain believers to go and herald the good news to the lost here.

Bata Across Countries (ROP3 - 101119) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
BataPG012527BataCameroon16,000No Longer UnreachedBataSunni Islam
BataPG013677BataNigeria342,000No Longer UnreachedBataAnimism

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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