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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Nyanja of Eswatini

The Nyanja of Eswatini, numbering approximately 7,300 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Chewa (Nyanja) diaspora community in Eswatini, numbering only a few thousand as the kingdom's most widely used immigrant language, away from the Chewa homeland of Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Chichewa is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Eswatini
People Cluster: Bantu, Chewa-Sena
Primary Language(s): Chichewa (nya)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 7,300
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015556
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Pray for the Nyanja of Eswatini

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Chichewa
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Chichewa Speakers

Media Resources in Chichewa:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Chichewa:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1997 Buku Loyera Version✓
Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero (The Word of God in Contemporary Chichewa)✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Chichewa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Nyanja 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 Nyanja:
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 Nyanja of Eswatini

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
readRomans 5:7-8

Pray for the many who don't yet understand the hope of the gospel, and pray that God will reveal to them that while they were in darkness, Christ died for them.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that God will remove obstacles to the gospel so that many will see the hope He offers through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, and be transformed from being enemies to being His friends.

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
read1 Peter 2:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will proclaim the good news and the lost will recognize their need for the Shepherd and turn to Jesus Christ in faith.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
readActs 17:30

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will boldly and lovingly declare that God commands all people everywhere to repent.

Nyanja, Chewa Across Countries (ROP3 - 107548) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▲CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Chewa NyanjaPG015333Chewa NyanjaMalawi8,530,000No Longer UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion
NyanjaPG015015NyanjaTanzania71,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaRoman Catholicism
NyanjaPG015407NyanjaMozambique1,455,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion
NyanjaPG015556NyanjaEswatini7,300No Longer UnreachedChichewaProtestantism
NyanjaPG015668NyanjaZimbabwe818,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion
Western NyanjaPG015620Western NyanjaZambia855,000No Longer UnreachedChichewaProtestantism

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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