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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Zari of Nigeria

The Zari of Nigeria, numbering approximately 41,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Nigeria. They are an Indigenous people, in the Chadic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Folk Islam. They primarily speak Hausa.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Hausa (hau)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 41,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG014203
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Zari of Nigeria

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Hausa
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

%

Media Resources in Hausa:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Hausa:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Hausa bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Zari

The Zari are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Zari

The Zari 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.

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

Next steps for the Zari

The Zari 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Zari of Nigeria

But he said, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
readLuke 18:27

Praise God that He is the God of impossible things and that He is able to save even those who seem beyond hope.

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.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.
readPsalm 130:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will wait on the Lord and have patience and trust, knowing His ways and His timing are always perfect.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
readActs 13:47

Pray that as people come to faith, they will follow the Lord's leading to go to their neighbors and share the treasure they found in Christ.

Zari (ROP3 - 111156) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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