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The Southern Sotho of South Africa

The Southern Sotho of South Africa, numbering approximately 5,440,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group indigenous to Lesotho and South Africa. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Southern Sotho is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Sotho, Southern

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Africa
People Cluster: Bantu, Sotho-Tswana
Primary Language(s): Southern Sotho (sot)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 5,440,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015533
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Pray for the Southern Sotho of South Africa

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

79%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Southern Sotho
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

64%
%
Sotho, Southern Speakers

Media Resources in Southern Sotho:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Southern Sotho:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Southern Sotho bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Southern Sotho 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 Southern Sotho:
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 Southern Sotho of South Africa

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
readIsaiah 59:2

Pray that those who are separated from God will turn to Him in humility and repentance, seeking His forgiveness and the restoration of a right relationship with their Heavenly Father.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.
readDeuteronomy 7:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will know God's faithful love and keep His commandments, experiencing His steadfast care.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
readMark 1:17-18

Pray that God will raise up believers from this place and/or other cultures nearby to proclaim the gospel to those who desperately need to encounter it.

Sotho Across Countries (ROP3 - 109431) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BasothoPG047274BasothoUnited States300No Longer UnreachedSouthern SothoProtestantism
SothoPG015558SothoEswatini6,100No Longer UnreachedSouthern SothoProtestantism
Southern SothoPG015533Southern SothoSouth Africa5,440,000No Longer UnreachedSouthern SothoProtestantism
Southern SothoPG015283Southern SothoLesotho1,945,000Engaged yet UnreachedSouthern SothoRoman Catholicism

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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