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The Bata of Nigeria

The Bata of Nigeria, numbering approximately 343,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a branch of the Bwatiye people of northeastern Nigeria, centered in Adamawa State and closely related to the Bachama, with a traditional kingship headed by the Hama Bata. They mostly adhere to Animism and Bata is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bata

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Bata (bta)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 343,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013677
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Pray for the Bata of Nigeria

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

70%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bata
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Bata Speakers

Media Resources in Bata:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Bata:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bata bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bata 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 Bata:
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 Bata of Nigeria

The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
readProverbs 4:19

Pray that lost people will accept salvation through Christ, turn from destruction, and experience joy in the way of righteousness.

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
readPsalm 104:24

Pray that they will see the wisdom and power of God in His creation and praise Him for His mighty works.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
read1 Peter 2:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember every day that Jesus' death on the cross brings real healing and restoration to their souls and joyfully share this good news with others.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
readPsalm 96:4

Pray that God will raise up believers to declare His glory among the lost, so that they may know that He is great and greatly to be praised, that He is exalted above all gods.

Bata Across Countries (ROP3 - 101119) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BataPG013677BataNigeria343,000No Longer UnreachedBataAnimism
BataPG012527BataCameroon16,000No Longer UnreachedBataSunni 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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