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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tsimehety of Madagascar

The Tsimehety of Madagascar, numbering approximately 2,365,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Madagascar; Antsirana and Fianarantsoa provinces They are an Indigenous people, with Tsimehety as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Malagasy people cluster of the Malay Peoples. They mostly adhere to Animism and Tsimihety Malagasy is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Madagascar
People Cluster: Malagasy
Primary Language(s): Tsimihety Malagasy (xmw)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 2,365,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015306
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Pray for the Tsimehety 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tsimihety Malagasy
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Malagasy, Tsimihety Speakers

Media Resources in Tsimihety Malagasy:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Tsimihety Malagasy:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tsimihety Malagasy bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tsimehety 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 Tsimehety:
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 Tsimehety of Madagascar

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
readPsalm 47:7

Pray for those who live for idols that will never satisfy their hearts, asking that someone will tell them that God is the King of all the earth so that they will turn to Him in repentance and praise.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
readMark 4:20

Pray that those who have never encountered the gospel will have the opportunity to receive it, and that it will fall on good soil and bear much fruit.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
readPsalm 42:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will thirst for God and be satisfied when they abide in Him.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
readRomans 9:16

Ask God to raise up people who will trust in His sovereignty as they share the gospel, knowing that it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

Tsimehety Across Countries (ROP3 - 110215) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TsimehetyPG015306TsimehetyMadagascar2,365,000Engaged yet UnreachedTsimihety MalagasyAnimism

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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