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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Deaf Nigerians of Nigeria

The Deaf Nigerians of Nigeria, numbering approximately 1,890,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a community of individuals who are culturally Deaf and actively participate in Deaf culture, often using sign language as their primary means of communication They are an Indigenous people, with Deaf as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Deaf people cluster of the Deaf Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Nigerian Sign Language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Deaf Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Deaf
Primary Language(s): Nigerian Sign Language (nsi)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 1,890,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG047736
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Pray for the Deaf Nigerians of Nigeria

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nigerian Sign Language
Language Family: Sign Language

40%
%
Nigerian Sign Language Speakers

Media Resources in Nigerian Sign Language:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Nigerian Sign Language:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Nigerian Sign Language bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Deaf Nigerians 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 Deaf Nigerians:
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 Deaf Nigerians of Nigeria

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
readMatthew 5:44-45

Pray for those who don't know Jesus to encounter believers who are kind and compassionate and that their imitation of Christ will serve as a testimony that attracts lost people to Jesus.

Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him!
readPsalm 68:4

Pray that many will come to faith in Christ and share the gospel with others so that His salvation will be known among all nations.

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.
readPsalm 75:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will give thanks to the Lord for His wondrous works and declare His goodness to all people.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
readRomans 12:4-5

Ask God to send believers to people in other cultures and to help them use their gifts in harmony with others so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Deaf Nigerian Across Countries (ROP3 - 116586) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▼PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Deaf NigeriansPG047736Deaf NigeriansNigeria1,890,000Engaged yet UnreachedNigerian Sign LanguageEthnoreligion

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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