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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Northwestern Chinantec of Mexico

The Northwestern Chinantec of Mexico, numbering approximately 21,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Chinantecan people of northern Oaxaca's Papaloapan River basin near Tuxtepec, Mexico, whose language traces to settlement of the Chinantla region over 3,500 years ago, distinct from the neighboring Zapotec and Mazatec. They mostly adhere to Folk Catholicism and Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Chinantec, Northwestern

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Mexico
People Cluster: Zapotec
Primary Language(s): Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec (ctl)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 21,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG039070
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Pray for the Northwestern Chinantec of Mexico

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: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

59%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec
Language Family: Otomanguean

98%
%
Chinantec, Tlacoatzintepec Speakers

Media Resources in Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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SPI: No longer Unreached

The Northwestern Chinantec 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 Northwestern Chinantec:
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 Northwestern Chinantec of Mexico

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.

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.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and suffer for their faith, they will sing for joy and be glad in their hearts because the Lord has compassion on them.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
readRomans 1:16

Pray that God will raise up sons and daughters who, like Paul, will be bold to share the gospel across cultural barriers so that many might receive salvation.

Chinantec, Tlacoatzintepec Across Countries (ROP3 - 110094) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Northwestern ChinantecPG039070Northwestern ChinantecMexico21,000No Longer UnreachedTlacoatzintepec ChinantecFolk Catholicism

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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