The Afar of Djibouti

The Afar of Djibouti, numbering approximately 365,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Cushitic ethnic group indigenous to the Horn of Africa, living primarily in Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Eritrea. They speak the Afar language, an East Cushitic language within the Afroasiatic family, and are predominantly Sunni Muslim. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Afar is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Djibouti
People Cluster: Afar-Saho
Primary Language(s): Afar (aar)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 365,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011480
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Afar of Djibouti

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Afar
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

99%
%
Afar Speakers

Media Resources in Afar:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Afar:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Afar bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Afar 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 Afar:
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 Afar of Djibouti

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
readPsalm 130:4

Pray that God will bring those who have hard hearts to repentance and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
readPsalm 19:1-2

Pray that the lost will see the glory of God revealed in the heavens, that they will hear the good news, and that their hearts will be softened to respond to God’s call, turning to Him in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
readPsalm 51:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence that God has turned His face from their sins and forgiven their iniquities.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
readPsalm 15:1-2

Ask God to send believers who will go and, with integrity, walk blamelessly and do what is right, speaking truth about the Lord with those who need to learn about His redemption plan.

Afar Across Countries (ROP3 - 102419) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AfarAfarEthiopia2,280,000Engaged yet UnreachedAfarSunni Islam
AfarAfarDjibouti365,000Engaged yet UnreachedAfarSunni Islam
AfarAfarEritrea359,000Unengaged and UnreachedAfarSunni Islam
AfarAfarCanada2,600Unengaged and UnreachedAfarSunni Islam
AfarAfarUnited States325Unengaged and UnreachedAfarSunni Islam

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.

Scroll to Top