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The Mahafaly of Madagascar

The Mahafaly of Madagascar, numbering approximately 484,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a people of Madagascar. They mostly adhere to Animism and Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Mahafaly

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Madagascar
People Cluster: Malagasy
Primary Language(s): Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy (tdx)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 484,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG033363
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Pray for the Mahafaly 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

75%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Malagasy, Tandroy-Mahafaly Speakers

Media Resources in Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tandroy-Mahafaly Malagasy bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Mahafaly 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 Mahafaly:
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 Mahafaly of Madagascar

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
readMark 10:15

Pray for those who might be trapped in pride, that God will humble them and give them a childlike faith and complete dependence on Him through faith in Christ.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
readIsaiah 52:7

Pray that those who don't know the good news of peace and salvation through Jesus Christ will have an opportunity to receive it. Pray that it will bring hope and healing to their souls.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 6:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will lay down all evil desires, dying to sin and living for Him alone.

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
readMatthew 16:17

Pray that God who is in heaven will place believers in the lives of people who need to encounter the gospel and that He will reveal to them the truth of what they hear.

Mahafaly Across Countries (ROP3 - 106024) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
MahafalyPG033363MahafalyMadagascar484,000No Longer UnreachedTandroy-Mahafaly 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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