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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 Iraqw of Tanzania

The Iraqw of Tanzania, numbering approximately 972,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a people of the Central Highlands of Tanzania in East Africa. They are an Indigenous people in the Rift people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Iraqw and their primary religion is Roman Catholicism.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Tanzania
People Cluster: Rift
Primary Language(s): Iraqw (irk)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 972,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014948
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Pray for the Iraqw of Tanzania

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: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

60%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Iraqw
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

65%
%
Iraqw Speakers

Media Resources in Iraqw:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Iraqw:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Iraqw bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% or Greater but Less than 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Iraqw:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Iraqw 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 Iraqw:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Iraqw 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 Iraqw:
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 Iraqw of Tanzania

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.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
readPsalm 19:1-2

Pray that the lost will see the glory of God revealed in the heavens, that they will hear the good news, and that their hearts will be softened to respond to God’s call, turning to Him in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
readPsalm 89:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will declare and record His faithfulness and love to be passed on from generation to generation.

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
readPsalm 105:1

Pray that many among them will call on the name of Jesus, develop a heart for the nations, and go to places where the gospel has not yet been received.

Iraqw Across Countries (ROP3 - 104058) 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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