The Ashanti of Cote d’Ivoire

The Ashanti of Cote d’Ivoire, numbering approximately 450,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Akan, one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa, indigenous to the present-day countries of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Akan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Cote d’Ivoire
People Cluster: Guinean
Primary Language(s): Akan (aka)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 450,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013038
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Ashanti of Cote d’Ivoire

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Akan
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Akan Speakers

Media Resources in Akan:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film

4 films

Bible Resources in Akan:

Or check out the Akan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Ashanti 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 Ashanti:
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 Ashanti of Cote d’Ivoire

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
readMatthew 5:6

Pray for those who are lost to desire righteousness and to be filled with the peace and purpose that only comes from following Jesus.

Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
readPsalm 47:6

Pray that believers will have a heart to invite others to trust in Christ alone so that they might sing praises to His name.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
read2 Corinthians 5:18

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will serve as God's ambassadors, sharing the message of reconciliation with others.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Akan Across Countries (ROP3 - 100179) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
AshantiAshantiGhana5,550,000No Longer UnreachedAkanEthnoreligion
AshantiAshantiCote d’Ivoire450,000Engaged yet UnreachedAkanProtestantism
AshantiAshantiTogo96,000Engaged yet UnreachedAkanAfrican Traditional Religion
AshantiAshantiLiberia64,000No Longer UnreachedAkanRoman Catholicism
AshantiAshantiUnited Kingdom28,000Unengaged and UnreachedAkanProtestantism
AkanAkanCanada27,000No Longer UnreachedAkanEthnoreligion

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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