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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

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
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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.

Pray Now!
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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

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Chichewa:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1997 Buku Loyera Version✓
Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero (The Word of God in Contemporary Chichewa)✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Chichewa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

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

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
readPsalm 96:7

Pray that entire households will come to faith in Jesus and that God will bless their families with faith in Him for generations to come.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
readRomans 5:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of glory and be in awe of God's mercy that gives them access to Him through faith.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
readRevelation 7:9-10

Pray that the promise in Revelation 7:9-10 will encourage believers from among them or from nearby people groups to share the gospel with people who have never learned it.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Chewa NyanjaPG015333Chewa NyanjaMalawi8,530,000No Longer UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion
NyanjaPG015407NyanjaMozambique1,455,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion
Western NyanjaPG015620Western NyanjaZambia855,000No Longer UnreachedChichewaProtestantism
NyanjaPG015668NyanjaZimbabwe818,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaEthnoreligion
NyanjaPG015015NyanjaTanzania71,000Engaged yet UnreachedChichewaRoman Catholicism
NyanjaPG015556NyanjaEswatini7,300No Longer UnreachedChichewaProtestantism

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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