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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bana of Cameroon

The Bana of Cameroon, numbering approximately 37,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Mandara Mountains people of Cameroon's Far North region, among the wealthiest farmers of the range, whose ancestors found refuge there from fifteenth-century slave raids driven by the expanding Islamic empires of Borno, Bagirmi, and Wandala. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Bana is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Cameroon
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Bana (bcw)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 37,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG012530
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Pray for the Bana of Cameroon

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

88%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bana
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Bana Speakers

Media Resources in Bana:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Bana:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2005 Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc.✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bana bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bana 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.

Next steps for the Bana:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Bana of Cameroon

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.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
readJohn 6:35

Pray that the lost will come to Jesus and believe in Him, never to hunger or thirst again.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
readIsaiah 53:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will find comfort and spiritual healing as they remember the wounds of Christ, who understands their suffering because He also walked through suffering on their behalf.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
readRomans 12:4-5

Ask God to send believers to people in other cultures and to help them use their gifts in harmony with others so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Bana Across Countries (ROP3 - 100941) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BanaPG012530BanaCameroon37,500No Longer UnreachedBanaEthnoreligion

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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