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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Irob of Ethiopia

The Irob of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 55,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnic group inhabiting the mountainous Irobland, primarily in northeastern Tigray, Ethiopia, with a smaller population across the Eritrean border. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Saho is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Irob

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Afar-Saho
Primary Language(s): Saho (ssy)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 55,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042732
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Pray for the Irob of Ethiopia

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: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

50%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Saho
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

80%
%
Saho Speakers

Media Resources in Saho:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Saho:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Saho bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Irob are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Irob:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Irob of Ethiopia

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
readRomans 1:19

Pray that God will use testimony of creation to cause those who do not yet know the gospel to long for truth and a relationship with the Author of life.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
readJohn 6:35

Pray that the lost will come to Jesus and believe in Him, never to hunger or thirst again.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 8:38-39

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence in their salvation, knowing that nothing can separate them from the One who conquered death and loves them as His children.

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
readActs 17:29

Pray that God will send out laborers to tell people of the one true God and, as the good news is shared, bring about repentance and belief as they turn from idols and follow Jesus.

Saho Across Countries (ROP3 - 108519) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▲PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
SahoPG011532SahoEritrea171,000Unengaged and UnreachedSahoSunni Islam
IrobPG042732IrobEthiopia55,000Engaged yet UnreachedSahoRoman 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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