The Mokole of Benin

The Mokole of Benin, numbering approximately 202,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indigenous Yoruba-related people of northern Benin whose Mokole language is a Yoruboid variety centered in villages around Kandi, where the community is geographically separated from most other Yoruba-speaking peoples. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Mokole is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Benin
People Cluster: Yoruba
Primary Language(s): Mokole (mkl)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 202,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012342
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Mokole of Benin

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

68%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mokole
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Mokole Speakers

Media Resources in Mokole:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Mokole:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2006 SIM✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Mokole bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mokole 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 Mokole:
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 Mokole of Benin

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

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.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that God will send and sustain believers to cross cultures and share the gospel with the lost. Ask that He will give them His heart for the lost and that many will believe in Him and not perish but have eternal life.

Mokole Across Countries (ROP3 - 106764) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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.

Scroll to Top