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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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The Anii of Benin

The Anii of Benin, numbering approximately 99,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a community centered on the town of Bassila in Benin's Donga department alongside migrant Yoruba and Tem communities, speaking a vulnerable Ghana-Togo Mountain language also known as Basila or Gisida. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Anii is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Benin
People Cluster: Guinean
Primary Language(s): Anii (blo)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 99,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012305
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Pray for the Anii of Benin

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

80%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Anii
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Anii Speakers

Media Resources in Anii:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Anii:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Anii bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Anii 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 Anii:
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 Anii of Benin

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
readRomans 3:12

Pray that those who are enslaved to sin will admit their need for a Savior, acknowledging that no one is righteous.

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
readPsalm 96:3

Pray for people to hear and believe the good news of Jesus and joyfully share it with their family and friends.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
readPsalm 121:1-2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and experience hardship, God will remind them that their help comes from the One who made heaven and earth and that He is powerful to meet their needs.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

Pray that God will raise up believers who can share the gospel with people who don't know the good news of Jesus, that God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all.

Basila (Anii) Across Countries (ROP3 - 101101) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AniiPG012305AniiBenin99,500Engaged yet UnreachedAniiFolk Islam
BasilaPG014321BasilaTogo21,500Unengaged and UnreachedAniiFolk 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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