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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Antandroy of Madagascar

The Antandroy of Madagascar, numbering approximately 1,265,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group of Madagascar inhabiting the arid southern part of the island.The Antandroy (Tandruy), or "people of the thorn bush," trace their origins back to the East Africa mainland. They are an Indigenous people in the Malagasy people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly and their primary religion is Animism.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Madagascar
People Cluster: Malagasy
Primary Language(s): Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly (tdx)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 1,265,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015291
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Pray for the Antandroy of Madagascar

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

80%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly Speakers

Media Resources in Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly 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: 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): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% or Greater but Less than 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity (GSEC: 3), this people group is less than 2% evangelical but there has been dispersed church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Antandroy:
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 Antandroy 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 Antandroy:
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 Antandroy 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 Antandroy:
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 Antandroy of Madagascar

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
read1 John 4:10

Pray for those without the hope of Christ to understand the depth of God's love and the sacrifice He made for them.

So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them
readMatthew 4:24

Pray that the truth about the Lord will spread throughout the land so that many will have an opportunity to receive the good news and put their faith in Him.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
readIsaiah 26:3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, the Lord will keep them in perfect peace as they trust in Him.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Antandroy Across Countries (ROP3 - 100382) 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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