Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

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 Arabs of Ethiopia

The Arabs of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 13,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a diverse ethnolinguistic group whose identity is shaped by a combination of language, culture, history, and geography. Arabs are native to the Arabian Peninsula, Levant, North Africa, and parts of the Horn of Africa. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Standard Arabic is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Arab, Arabian
Primary Language(s): Standard Arabic (arb)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 13,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011545

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Pray for the Arabs of Ethiopia

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

70%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Standard Arabic
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Arabic, Standard Speakers

Media Resources in Standard Arabic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film
The SaviorView Film

6 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Standard Arabic:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Easy to Read Version✓✓
Good News Version✓
Sharif (Iraqi) Version✓✓✓
Sharif Version✓✓✓
Standard Arabic (Gulf)✓
Van Dyke Version - multi voice✓✓✓
Van Dyke Version - single voice✓✓✓

7 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Standard Arabic bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Arabs:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Arabs of Ethiopia

The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!
readPsalm 22:26

Pray that the lost will feel a deep hunger for God, be drawn to Him in their affliction, and find lasting satisfaction and salvation in Him alone.

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.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
readHebrews 10:23

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will cling tightly to the hope they have in God to faithfully keep His promises.

"For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you."
readActs 17:23

Pray that believers God sends to cross cultures will be sensitive to the spiritual needs of the people they serve, and will proclaim the truth of Christ to them in creative ways that they will understand.

Arab Across Countries (ROP3 - 100425) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

23 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ArabsPG017321ArabsArgentina1,580,000Engaged yet UnreachedSpanishSunni Islam
ArabsPG014900ArabsTanzania509,000Engaged yet UnreachedSwahili (individual language)Sunni Islam
ArabsPG016532ArabsBrazil492,000Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG006321ArabsPakistan248,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG007830ArabsAustralia161,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG000004ArabsAustria101,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG000078ArabsDenmark96,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG000580ArabsSwitzerland75,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG041734ArabsIndia62,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG014761ArabsKenya57,000Engaged yet UnreachedSwahili (individual language)Sunni Islam
ArabsPG047072ArabsGreece34,500Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG014477ArabsCongo, Democratic Republic of the32,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG018465ArabsMalaysia18,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG015486ArabsSouth Africa16,000No Longer UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG011545ArabsEthiopia13,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG000374ArabsMalta10,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG018478ArabsNew Zealand10,000No Longer UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG014463ArabsBurundi3,800Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG013266ArabsGhana3,300Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG016383ArabsJamaica2,100Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG015270ArabsComoros900Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG042248ArabsMaldives750Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG016194ArabsBarbados150Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni 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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