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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Maninka of Liberia

The Maninka of Liberia, numbering approximately 79,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Maninka community of the broader Manding peoples descended from the Mali Empire that preserves its Maninkakan language, trading traditions, and Mande cultural heritage in Liberia They are an Diaspora people, with Maninka as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Malinke people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Eastern Maninkakan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Liberia
People Cluster: Malinke
Primary Language(s): Eastern Maninkakan (emk)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 79,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013516
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Pray for the Maninka of Liberia

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: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

52%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Eastern Maninkakan
Language Family: Mande

100%
%
Maninkakan, Eastern Speakers

Media Resources in Eastern Maninkakan:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Eastern Maninkakan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Eastern Maninkakan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Maninka 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 Maninka:
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 Maninka of Liberia

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
readRomans 3:12

Pray that those who are enslaved to sin will admit their need for a Savior, acknowledging that no one is righteous.

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
readGenesis 2:7

Pray that Christians will be able to share the hope of Christ with suffering people and that He will breathe new life into their souls.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
readEphesians 6:10-11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will grow strong in His power, putting on the full armor of God, which will enable them to stand against the devil’s lies.

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
readPsalm 96:10

Pray for God to put in the hearts of believers to go to the lost and testify about the Lord who reigns.

Maninka, Eastern Across Countries (ROP3 - 106265) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ManinkaPG013424ManinkaGuinea3,880,000Engaged yet UnreachedEastern ManinkakanFolk Islam
ManinkaPG013516ManinkaLiberia79,000Engaged yet UnreachedEastern ManinkakanFolk Islam
ManinkaPG014290ManinkaSierra Leone190,000Engaged yet UnreachedEastern ManinkakanFolk Islam
Eastern ManinkaPG048618Eastern ManinkaMali698,000Engaged yet UnreachedEastern ManinkakanSunni Islam

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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