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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

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
readJohn 3:18

Pray for those who are living under the burden of their sin to believe in Jesus, the only Son of God, and receive freedom.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
readPsalm 19:3

Pray that God will lead them to His Word, and where it is not available, ask that He will raise up those who will produce gospel media in their heart language.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
readPhilippians 1:6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be assured that God will complete the good work He has begun in them until the day of Christ's return.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

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 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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