The Coastal Swahili of Tanzania

The Coastal Swahili of Tanzania, numbering approximately 1,085,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a people whose ethnogenesis is a relatively recent phenomenon, and ethnologists have had difficulty describing them They are an Indigenous people, with Swahili as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Bantu, Swahili people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Swahili.

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

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Tanzania
People Cluster: Bantu, Swahili
Primary Language(s): Swahili (swh)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 1,085,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015047
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Coastal Swahili of Tanzania

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: Swahili
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Swahili Speakers

Media Resources in Swahili:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

4 films

Bible Resources in Swahili:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Habari Njema (Interconfessional)

1 entry

Or check out the Swahili bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Coastal Swahili 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 Coastal Swahili:
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 Coastal Swahili of Tanzania

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
readJohn 3:18

Pray for those who are living under the burden of their sin to believe in Jesus, the only Son of God, and receive freedom.

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.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
readPsalm 42:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will thirst for God and be satisfied when they abide in Him.

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
readIsaiah 40:9

Pray for God to send and sustain believers to go and herald the good news to the lost here.

Swahili Across Countries (ROP3 - 109644) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

17 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Coastal SwahiliCoastal SwahiliTanzania1,085,000Engaged yet UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
Arabized AfricansArabized AfricansSaudi Arabia553,000Unengaged and UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliUnited States82,000No Longer UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
Central SwahiliCentral SwahiliCongo, Democratic Republic of the64,000Unengaged and UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
Coastal SwahiliCoastal SwahiliKenya60,000Engaged yet UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
Bantu SwahiliBantu SwahiliSomalia54,500Unengaged and UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliZambia39,000No Longer UnreachedSwahiliEthnoreligion
SwahiliSwahiliSudan33,500Unengaged and UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
Black AfricansBlack AfricansUnited Arab Emirates30,500Engaged yet UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliRwanda20,500Unengaged and UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliMozambique18,500Engaged yet UnreachedSwahiliFolk Islam
SwahiliSwahiliBurundi14,500Unengaged and UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliMayotte10,500Engaged yet UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliCanada9,300Unengaged and UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliUganda5,500Unengaged and UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliComoros1,200Engaged yet UnreachedSwahiliSunni Islam
SwahiliSwahiliSeychelles600Engaged yet UnreachedSwahiliSunni 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.

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