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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Mahafaly of Madagascar

The Mahafaly of Madagascar, numbering approximately 484,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a people of Madagascar. They mostly adhere to Animism and Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Madagascar
People Cluster: Malagasy
Primary Language(s): Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy (tdx)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 484,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG033363
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Pray for the Mahafaly 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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

75%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly Speakers

Media Resources in Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Mahafaly are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Mahafaly:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Mahafaly of Madagascar

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Pray for those ensnared by the darkness of this world, that they will recognize the spiritual forces at work and turn to the light of Christ.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:3

Pray that God will be working in people's hearts, give them opportunities to receive the gospel, and bring many to faith in Himself.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
read1 Corinthians 9:19

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have hearts that want to serve the lost around them so that many might come to faith in Jesus.

And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
readColossians 1:20

As believers cross cultures to tell others about Jesus, praise God for allowing them to be a part of His reconciling all things to Himself, asking Him to help them remember their role in His beautiful plan of salvation for others.

Mahafaly Across Countries (ROP3 - 106024) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MahafalyPG033363MahafalyMadagascar484,000No Longer UnreachedTandroy-Mahafaly MalagasyAnimism

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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