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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mbugu of Tanzania

The Mbugu of Tanzania, numbering approximately 93,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnic community of northeastern Tanzania's Usambara Mountains, descended from Cushitic-associated ancestors who became integrated with neighboring Bantu peoples while preserving a distinctive Ma’a/Mbugu identity and linguistic heritage. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Mbugu is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Tanzania
People Cluster: Other Sub-Saharan African
Primary Language(s): Mbugu (mhd)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 93,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014988
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Pray for the Mbugu 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

45%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mbugu
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

85%
%
Mbugu Speakers

Media Resources in Mbugu:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Mbugu:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mbugu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mbugu 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 Mbugu:
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 Mbugu of Tanzania

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
readIsaiah 59:2

Pray that those who are separated from God will turn to Him in humility and repentance, seeking His forgiveness and the restoration of a right relationship with their Heavenly Father.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
readActs 6:7

Pray that the Word of God will be increasingly available to these people in ways they will resonate with so that all may have a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
readGalatians 3:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be united in Christ across all differences of ethnicity, social status, and gender.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Mbugu Across Countries (ROP3 - 110501) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MbuguPG014988MbuguTanzania93,000Engaged yet UnreachedMbuguProtestantism

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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