Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Arabs of Kenya

The Arabs of Kenya, numbering approximately 56,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a diverse ethnolinguistic group whose identity is shaped by a combination of language, culture, history, and geography. Arabs are native to the Arabian Peninsula, Levant, North Africa, and parts of the Horn of Africa. They are an Diaspora people in the Arab, Arabian people cluster of the Arab Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Swahili and their primary religion is Sunni Islam.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Kenya
People Cluster: Arab, Arabian
Primary Language(s): Swahili (swh)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 56,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014761
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Pray for the Arabs of Kenya

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Swahili
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Swahili Speakers

Media Resources in Swahili:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Swahili:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Swahili bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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 Arabs:
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 Arabs 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 Arabs:
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 Arabs 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 Arabs:
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 Arabs of Kenya

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
readRevelation 3:20

Pray that those who have not opened their hearts to Jesus will hear His knock and invite Him in as their Savior and Lord.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
readMark 4:20

Pray that those who have never encountered the gospel will have the opportunity to receive it, and that it will fall on good soil and bear much fruit.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
readActs 2:46-47

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be devoted to the teaching of God's Word, to fellowship with one another, and to prayer.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father sends me, even so I am sending you."
readJohn 20:21

Ask God to raise up and send out believers cross-culturally who will go out in His authority and be sustained by His peace as they share the gospel with the lost.

Arab Across Countries (ROP3 - 100425) 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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