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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Makua of Tanzania

The Makua of Tanzania, numbering approximately 946,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a central Bantu ethnic group indigenous to northern Mozambique and the southern border provinces of Tanzania. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Makhuwa-Meetto is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Tanzania
People Cluster: Bantu, Makua-Yao
Primary Language(s): Makhuwa-Meetto (mgh)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 946,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014979
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Pray for the Makua of Tanzania

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

77%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Makhuwa-Meetto
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Makhuwa-Meetto Speakers

Media Resources in Makhuwa-Meetto:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Makhuwa-Meetto:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Malhehano O Naanano Wa Attu Onkhaye✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Makhuwa-Meetto 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: 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 Makua:
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 Makua of Tanzania

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
read1 Timothy 6:9

Pray for those, rich and poor, who have put their trust in worldly things, and ask that they will be honest with themselves, acknowledge their need for God and turn to Him.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
readPsalm 96:7

Pray that entire households will come to faith in Jesus and that God will bless their families with faith in Him for generations to come.

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of host.
readJeremiah 15:16

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will find joy and delight in the Word of the Lord.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
readPsalm 96:4

Pray that God will raise up believers to declare His glory among the lost, so that they may know that He is great and greatly to be praised, that He is exalted above all gods.

Makhuwa-Meetto Across Countries (ROP3 - 106087) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MakuaPG015367MakuaMayotte3,300Engaged yet UnreachedMakhuwa-MeettoFolk Islam
MakuaPG015274MakuaComoros14,500Engaged yet UnreachedMakhuwa-MeettoSunni Islam
MakuaPG015663MakuaZimbabwe16,500Engaged yet UnreachedMakhuwa-MeettoAnimism
MakuaPG014979MakuaTanzania946,000Unengaged and UnreachedMakhuwa-MeettoSunni Islam
Makhuwa-MettoPG015390Makhuwa-MettoMozambique1,750,000Engaged yet UnreachedMakhuwa-MeettoSunni 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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