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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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Amhara of Ethiopia

The Amhara of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 36,210,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a major Semitic‑speaking ethnic group indigenous to the north‑central Ethiopian highlands. Speakers of Amharic—Ethiopia’s principal working language—they have historically been central to the Ethiopian state and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They mostly adhere to Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity and Amharic is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Ethio-Semitic
Primary Language(s): Amharic (amh)
Primary Religion(s): Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity
Population: 36,210,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011540
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Pray for the Amhara 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: Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

83%
%
Tewahedo Orthodox Christi… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Amharic
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Amharic Speakers

Media Resources in Amharic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Amharic:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1962 Bible Society of Ethiopia✓
1988 Common Version✓
New Amharic Standard Version (NASV)✓
Orthodox-Septuagint Deuterocanonical Version✓

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Amharic bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Amhara 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 Amhara:
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 Amhara of Ethiopia

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
readEphesians 5:8

Pray that those who are lost will turn from the darkness they are walking in and embrace the light, becoming children of light who bear fruit in every good work.

Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
readPsalm 66:5

Pray that many here will come and see what the Creator God has done on their behalf.

And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
readMatthew 16:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Him and have assurance that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

Amhara Across Countries (ROP3 - 100293) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AmharaPG011482AmharaDjibouti550Engaged yet UnreachedAmharicTewahedo Orthodox Christianity
AmharaPG011488AmharaEgypt4,100Unengaged and UnreachedAmharicTewahedo Orthodox Christianity
AmharaPG047403AmharaCanada14,000No Longer UnreachedAmharicTewahedo Orthodox Christianity
AmharaPG042397AmharaGermany23,000Unengaged and UnreachedAmharicTewahedo Orthodox Christianity
AmharaPG046497AmharaUnited States189,000Engaged yet UnreachedAmharicTewahedo Orthodox Christianity
AmharaPG011540AmharaEthiopia36,210,000Engaged yet UnreachedAmharicTewahedo Orthodox Christianity

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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