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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Birifor of Burkina Faso

The Birifor of Burkina Faso, numbering approximately 282,000 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: 282,000
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

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
readJohn 8:32

Pray for those who live enslaved to sin to hear and receive the truth of the gospel and be set free.

...And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
readLuke 24:47

Pray that the message of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus will reach everyone.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
readHebrews 10:35

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hold unswervingly to their faith and to their confidence in Christ, which has a great reward.

"For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you."
readActs 17:23

Pray that believers God sends to cross cultures will be sensitive to the spiritual needs of the people they serve, and will proclaim the truth of Christ to them in creative ways that they will understand.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▼LanguageReligion
BiriforPG012375BiriforBurkina Faso282,000Engaged 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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