Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
Be sure to use the data import function in your favorite app for working with data.
If you'd like to help improve these translations, Contact Us.

PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Kuku of South Sudan

The Kuku of South Sudan, numbering approximately 65,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an Eastern Nilotic people who crossed the Nile to absorb the Sudanic Moru-Madi clans of Kajo-Keji, founded by Bari migrants seeking farmland in the early 1800s and named for chief Kajok-Koji They are an Indigenous people, with Bari (Nilotic) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Nilotic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Bari is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Sudan
People Cluster: Nilotic
Primary Language(s): Bari (bfa)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 65,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012076
View on Joshua Project

Print Profile
Submit Updates

Pray for the Kuku of South Sudan

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!
Download Prayer Guide

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

70%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bari
Language Family: Nilotic

100%
%
Bari Speakers

Media Resources in Bari:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Bari:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1979 Bible Society of South Sudan✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bari bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Kuku 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 Kuku:
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 Kuku of South Sudan

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Pray for those ensnared by the darkness of this world, that they will recognize the spiritual forces at work and turn to the light of Christ.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
readMatthew 13:23

Pray that their hearts will have good soil that receives the Word, understands it, and bears fruit for God's kingdom.

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
readIsaiah 25:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of the Lord's coming, when He will swallow up death forever and wipe away their tears.

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.

Bari, Kuku Across Countries (ROP3 - 105363) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
KukuPG012076KukuSouth Sudan65,500Engaged yet UnreachedBariEthnoreligion

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