The Antanosy of Madagascar

The Antanosy of Madagascar, numbering approximately 802,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a subgroup of the Antandroy (100382) peoples of the plains of Madagascar They are an Indigenous people, with Antanosy as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Malagasy people cluster of the Malay Peoples. Their primary religion is Ancestor Worship. They primarily speak Malagasy, Tanosy.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Madagascar
People Cluster: Malagasy
Primary Language(s): Malagasy, Tanosy (txy)
Primary Religion(s): Ancestor Worship
Population: 802,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015290
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Antanosy of Madagascar

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ancestor Worship
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malagasy, Tanosy
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%

Media Resources in Malagasy, Tanosy:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Malagasy, Tanosy:

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Or check out the Malagasy, Tanosy bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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% to 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity (GSEC: 3), this people group is less than 2% evangelical but there has been dispersed church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Antanosy:
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 Antanosy 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 Antanosy:
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 Antanosy 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 Antanosy:
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 Antanosy of Madagascar

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
readPsalm 1:6

As many look for hope in worldly pleasures, pray they will hear and accept salvation through Christ, turn from destruction, and experience joy in the way of righteousness.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
readDeuteronomy 6:6-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hide God's Word in their hearts, let it shape their conversations and daily lives, and pass on their faith to the next generation.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
readActs 17:30

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will boldly and lovingly declare that God commands all people everywhere to repent.

Antanosy Across Countries (ROP3 - 100384) 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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