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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Zay of Ethiopia

The Zay of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 24,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Semitic-speaking people of Ethiopia's Lake Zway region who traditionally inhabit the lake's islands and shores. The Zay maintain a distinct Ethiopian Semitic language and are historically associated with Ethiopian Orthodox tradition. They mostly adhere to Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity and Zay is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Ethio-Semitic
Primary Language(s): Zay (zwa)
Primary Religion(s): Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity
Population: 24,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011661
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Pray for the Zay of Ethiopia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

80%
%
Tewahedo Orthodox Christi… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Zay
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

60%
%
Zay Speakers

Media Resources in Zay:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Zay:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Zay bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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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 Zay:
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 Zay of Ethiopia

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that those who need to surrender their lives to Christ will confess their sins and trust in Him, being united with Him in His death and resurrection, walking in newness of life.

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.

You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
readPsalm 32:7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember that God is their hiding place and that He will preserve them in the midst of trials.

Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
readPsalm 105:2

Pray for God to saturate this place with the gospel and raise up believing men and women from among them to share the good news of Christ with those who have yet to encounter it.

Zay Across Countries (ROP3 - 111160) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ZayPG011661ZayEthiopia24,000Unengaged and UnreachedZayTewahedo 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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