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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Ndebele of Zimbabwe

The Ndebele of Zimbabwe, numbering approximately 2,170,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as a Nguni ethnic group indigenous to Southern Africa They are an Indigenous people, with Ndebele as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Bantu, Nguni people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and North Ndebele is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Zimbabwe
People Cluster: Bantu, Nguni
Primary Language(s): North Ndebele (nde)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 2,170,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015667
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Pray for the Ndebele of Zimbabwe

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

75%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: North Ndebele
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Ndebele (Zimbabwe) Speakers

Media Resources in North Ndebele:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in North Ndebele:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1978 Bible Society of Zimbabwe✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the North Ndebele bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Ndebele 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 Ndebele:
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 Ndebele of Zimbabwe

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
readGenesis 3:15

Pray that those without Christ will hear the words of Genesis 1-3 in their own language, and desire to know their Creator and His provision of salvation.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise).
readEphesians 6:1-2

Pray that God will bring young men and women to faith in Jesus and that the fruit of their faith will be a powerful testimony as they honor their parents.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
readPsalm 37:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will delight themselves in the Lord, trusting Him to give them the desires of their hearts.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessing.
read1 Corinthians 9:23

Ask God to give believers a deep desire to share the gospel with those who don't know the truth about God's redemption plan, and to provide them with opportunities to do so cross-culturally.

Ndebele Across Countries (ROP3 - 107154) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
NdebelePG015667NdebeleZimbabwe2,170,000No Longer UnreachedNorth NdebeleProtestantism
NdebelePG015614NdebeleZambia17,000Engaged yet UnreachedNorth NdebeleEthnoreligion

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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