The Hausa of Benin

The Hausa of Benin, numbering approximately 44,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a West African diaspora people of Hausa origin, descended from communities rooted in Hausaland of northern Nigeria and southern Niger who established commercial and settlement communities in Benin while maintaining a broader Hausa identity. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Hausa is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Benin
People Cluster: Hausa
Primary Language(s): Hausa (hau)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 44,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012327
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Hausa of Benin

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Hausa
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Hausa Speakers

Media Resources in Hausa:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Bible Resources in Hausa:

3 entries

Or check out the Hausa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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 Hausa:
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 Hausa of Benin

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
readPsalm 46:10

Pray that those who do not yet worship Jesus will be still and know that He is God, that He will be exalted among them and in all the earth.

...I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
readPsalm 13:5

Ask God to bring many to trust in His unfailing love and cause their hearts to rejoice in His salvation.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
readPsalm 27:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will strengthen them when they face persecution of any kind for Jesus' name’s sake.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Hausa Across Countries (ROP3 - 103733) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

19 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▲
HausaHausaChad296,000Engaged yet UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaTogo26,000Unengaged and UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaNigeria40,650,000Engaged yet UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaNiger16,200,000Engaged yet UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaGhana323,000Engaged yet UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaGabon45,000Unengaged and UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaEquatorial Guinea32,500Unengaged and UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaCote d’Ivoire484,000Engaged yet UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaCongo12,500Unengaged and UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaCentral African Republic41,500Unengaged and UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaCameroon434,000Engaged yet UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaBurkina Faso12,000Engaged yet UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaBenin44,500Unengaged and UnreachedHausaFolk Islam
HausaHausaGuinea1,500Engaged yet UnreachedHausaSunni Islam
HausaHausaSudan1,060,000Engaged yet UnreachedHausaSunni Islam
HausaHausaAlgeria12,500Unengaged and UnreachedHausaSunni Islam
HausaHausaEthiopia134,000Unengaged and UnreachedHausaSunni Islam
HausaHausaCanada375Engaged yet UnreachedHausaSunni Islam
HausaHausaUnited States5,400Unengaged and UnreachedHausaSunni 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.

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