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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tswana of South Africa

The Tswana of South Africa, numbering approximately 4,240,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Sotho-Tswana people of southern Africa descended from Bantu-speaking communities that established chiefdoms across the interior grasslands of present-day South Africa and Botswana. They mostly adhere to Independent Christianity and Tswana is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Africa
People Cluster: Bantu, Sotho-Tswana
Primary Language(s): Tswana (tsn)
Primary Religion(s): Independent Christianity
Population: 4,240,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Concentrated CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015544
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Pray for the Tswana of South Africa

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Independent Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

85%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tswana
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

95%
%
Setswana Speakers

Media Resources in Tswana:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tswana:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tswana bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tswana 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 Tswana:
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 Tswana of South Africa

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
readRomans 1:20

As God's creation declares His glory, pray that multitudes who don't know Him will see the works of His hands and desire to know more about the Creator.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
readRomans 9:16

Pray that the merciful God who is at work in people's hearts will advance His gospel among them.

And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
readLuke 9:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will meditate on the stories of Jesus' miracles, be in awe of Him, and trust Him for everything they need.

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
read2 Corinthians 1:5

When any who might believe suffer for the sake of the gospel, ask God to deepen their understanding of His grace so that they may share it freely with those who have not received it.

Tswana Across Countries (ROP3 - 110225) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TswanaPG015544TswanaSouth Africa4,240,000Engaged yet UnreachedTswanaIndependent Christianity
TswanaPG015264TswanaBotswana2,115,000Engaged yet UnreachedTswanaEthnoreligion
TswanaPG015682TswanaZimbabwe95,000Engaged yet UnreachedTswanaEthnoreligion
TswanaPG015463TswanaNamibia6,600Engaged yet UnreachedTswanaEthnoreligion

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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