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.

The Afar of Eritrea

The Afar of Eritrea, numbering approximately 359,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Cushitic ethnic group indigenous to the Horn of Africa, living primarily in Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Eritrea. They speak the Afar language, an East Cushitic language within the Afroasiatic family, and are predominantly Sunni Muslim. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Afar is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Afar

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Eritrea
People Cluster: Afar-Saho
Primary Language(s): Afar (aar)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 359,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011517
View on Joshua Project

Print Profile
Submit Updates

Pray for the Afar of Eritrea

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Afar
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Afar Speakers

Media Resources in Afar:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Afar:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Afar 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 Afar:
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 Afar of Eritrea

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
readExodus 14:22

Pray that the God who split the sea so that the Israelites might pass through would do another great work among these people, softening the hearts of those who remain lost to the good news and saving them from their sins.

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
readMatthew 16:16

Pray that many will see clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and put their trust in Him.

But you said, "I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude."
readGenesis 32:12

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will experience God's presence and protection even in difficult circumstances, knowing that He will make them fruitful.

Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
readLuke 10:3

Ask God to raise up and send humble believers who will depend on Him as they go out like lambs among wolves to share the good news with those who need to hear it.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▼LanguageReligion
AfarPG011536AfarEthiopia2,280,000Engaged yet UnreachedAfarSunni Islam
AfarPG011480AfarDjibouti365,000Engaged yet UnreachedAfarSunni Islam
AfarPG047406AfarCanada2,600Unengaged and UnreachedAfarSunni Islam
AfarPG047244AfarUnited States325Unengaged and UnreachedAfarSunni Islam
AfarPG011517AfarEritrea359,000Unengaged and UnreachedAfarSunni 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.

Scroll to Top