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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Birifor of Burkina Faso

The Birifor of Burkina Faso, numbering approximately 275,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous community of Burkina Faso; a dialect subgroup of Malba Birifor (bfo) and can also be known as Birifor Malba. They are an Indigenous people, in the Gur people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Animism. They primarily speak Birifor, Malba.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Burkina Faso
People Cluster: Gur
Primary Language(s): Birifor, Malba (bfo)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Animism
Population: 275,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012375
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Pray for the Birifor of Burkina Faso

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion - Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Birifor, Malba
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

%
Birifor, Malba Speakers

Media Resources in Birifor, Malba:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Birifor, Malba:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Birifor, Malba bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Birifor

The Birifor 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 Birifor

The Birifor 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 Birifor

The Birifor 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 Birifor of Burkina Faso

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
readRomans 1:20

As God's creation declares His glory, pray that multitudes who don't know Him will see the works of His hands and desire to know more about the Creator.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
readPsalm 96:8

Pray for people here to humbly give God the glory due His name.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
readPhilippians 2:5-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will imitate His humility in all they do.

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
readMark 7:15

Pray for Christians to take any opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with lost people here, praying they will be wise like Jesus as they share the truth about what can defile people and what can make them clean.

Birifor, Malba (ROP3 - 101480) 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.

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