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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Deaf Malagasians of Madagascar

The Deaf Malagasians of Madagascar, numbering approximately 297,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a community of individuals who are culturally Deaf and actively participate in Deaf culture, often using sign language as their primary means of communication. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Madagascar Sign Language is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Deaf Malagasy

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Deaf Peoples
Country: Madagascar
People Cluster: Deaf
Primary Language(s): Madagascar Sign Language (mzc)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 297,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG047762
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Pray for the Deaf Malagasians 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Madagascar Sign Language
Language Family: Sign Language

100%
%
Malagasy Sign Language Speakers

Media Resources in Madagascar Sign Language:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Madagascar Sign Language:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Madagascar Sign Language bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Deaf Malagasians 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 Deaf Malagasians:
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

Pray specifically for the Deaf Malagasians of Madagascar

That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:27

Pray that those who don't yet know Christ will search diligently for God and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
readEphesians 2:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember God's mercy and grace and experience joy as they walk in new life with Christ.

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
readPsalm 96:10

Pray for God to put in the hearts of believers to go to the lost and testify about the Lord who reigns.

Deaf Malagasy Across Countries (ROP3 - 116547) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▲LanguageReligion
Deaf MalagasiansPG047762Deaf MalagasiansMadagascar297,000Engaged yet UnreachedMadagascar Sign LanguageEthnoreligion

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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