The Nyanja of Eswatini

The Nyanja of Eswatini, numbering approximately 7,300 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Chewa (Nyanja) diaspora community in Eswatini, numbering only a few thousand as the kingdom's most widely used immigrant language, away from the Chewa homeland of Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Chichewa is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Eswatini
People Cluster: Bantu, Chewa-Sena
Primary Language(s): Chichewa (nya)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 7,300
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015556
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Nyanja of Eswatini

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Chichewa
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Chichewa Speakers

Media Resources in Chichewa:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Chichewa:

Or check out the Chichewa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Nyanja 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 Nyanja:
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 Nyanja of Eswatini

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
readPsalm 10:17-18

Pray that God, in accordance with His good character, will give justice to those who are oppressed by sin and that they will know that His offer of salvation is for everyone.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
readPsalm 19:3

Pray that God will lead them to His Word, and where it is not available, ask that He will raise up those who will produce gospel media in their heart language.

And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that having sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
read2 Corinthians 9:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will see that God provides for their needs and be content in His provision so that they may excel in every good work.

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
read2 Corinthians 1:5

When any who might believe suffer for the sake of the gospel, ask God to deepen their understanding of His grace so that they may share it freely with those who have not received it.

Nyanja, Chewa Across Countries (ROP3 - 107548) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
NyanjaNyanjaTanzania71,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaRoman Catholicism
Chewa NyanjaChewa NyanjaMalawi8,530,000No Longer UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion
NyanjaNyanjaMozambique1,455,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion
NyanjaNyanjaEswatini7,300No Longer UnreachedChichewaProtestantism
Western NyanjaWestern NyanjaZambia855,000No Longer UnreachedChichewaProtestantism
NyanjaNyanjaZimbabwe818,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion

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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