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The Birifor of Burkina Faso

The Birifor of Burkina Faso, numbering approximately 283,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Mole-Dagbane people closely related to the Lobi, settled along the Black Volta since the 18th-century Gwiriko Empire era, sharing a farming and gold-panning tradition with neighboring Dagara communities. They mostly adhere to Animism and Malba Birifor is their primary language.

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): Malba Birifor (bfo)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 283,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012375
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Pray for the Birifor of Burkina Faso

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

86%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malba Birifor
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Birifor, Malba Speakers

Media Resources in Malba Birifor:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Malba Birifor:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1993 Bible Society of Burkina Faso✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Malba Birifor bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

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.

Next steps for the Birifor:
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 Birifor of Burkina Faso

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that those who do know about God's free gift will hear and believe that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord and that they will joyfully accept this gift.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
readMatthew 13:23

Pray that their hearts will have good soil that receives the Word, understands it, and bears fruit for God's kingdom.

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.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
readEphesians 6:13

Pray that God will send believers to the lost of this people group and that, as they share the gospel, they will take up the whole armor of God so that they can stand firm when trials come.

Birifor, Malba Across Countries (ROP3 - 101480) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BiriforPG012375BiriforBurkina Faso283,000Engaged yet UnreachedMalba BiriforAnimism

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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