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
Be sure to use the data import function in your favorite app for working with data.
If you'd like to help improve these translations, Contact Us.

PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Afar of Djibouti

The Afar of Djibouti, numbering approximately 358,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Custhitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the Horn of Africa. They are an Indigenous people, in the Afar-Saho people cluster of the Horn of Africa affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Afar.

Afar in Djibouti photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: manothegreek

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: North Africa and Middle East Peoples
Country: Djibouti
People Cluster: Afar-Saho
Primary Language(s): Afar (aar)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 358,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011480
View on Joshua Project

Prayer Card
Submit Updates

Pray for the Afar of Djibouti

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!
Download Prayer Guide

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Afar
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

%
Afar Speakers

Media Resources in Afar:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Afar:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Afar bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Afar

The Afar are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Afar

The Afar 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.

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

Next steps for the Afar

The Afar 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Afar of Djibouti

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
readActs 6:7

Pray that the Word of God will be increasingly available to these people in ways they will resonate with so that all may have a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.  

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
readHebrews 10:39

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, and faithfully follow God, they will share Christ boldly with those around them. 

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
readRomans 10:15

Pray that God will call many believers who will obediently go and share the gospel with those who desperately need it.

Afar (ROP3 - 102419) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

Scroll to Top