Prototype rebuild by the IMB Innovation Team. The official site is peoplegroups.org.

People group profile · PG013466

The Mandinka of Guinea-Bissau

The Mandinka of Guinea-Bissau, numbering about 263,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia, eastern Guinea, Senegal, and Ghana.

They are an indigenous people in the Malinke people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Folk Islam, and they primarily speak Mandinka.

Pray for the MandinkaPrint profile

AI-generated illustration representing the Mandinka people
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph. Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Mandinka

Fast facts

Country
Guinea-Bissau
Population
263,000
Affinity group
Sub-Saharan African Peoples
People cluster
Malinke
Primary language
Mandinka (mnk)
Primary religion
Folk Islam
Strategic Progress Index ?
Engaged yet Unreached
Evangelical
Less than 2%
GSEC ?
Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
Lostness priority ?
Frontier Unreached People Group
Region
Western Africa, Africa

Where they live

Gospel status

The Mandinka are Engaged yet Unreached, which means fewer than 2% are evangelical Christians, but there are sustained efforts to establish self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. In GSEC terms, this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years.

  • Congregations exist No
  • Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted

Next steps for the Mandinka

  • 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

Primary religion

Folk Islam · Islam

80% adherents

Primary language

Mandinka · Mande family

100% speak Mandinka

Gospel resources in Mandinka

  • Bible available
  • JESUS Film available
  • Radio programs not available
  • Gospel recordings available
  • Audio resources available
  • Bible stories not available

Films

Bibles

Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.

Pray for the Mandinka

  1. Romans 10:14–15. Ask God to send messengers, so that people can hear, believe and call on the name of the Lord.
  2. Matthew 9:37–38. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field.
  3. 2 Timothy 2:2. Pray for faithful local leaders who will teach others, so that the church multiplies.
  4. Ephesians 5:8. Pray that those walking in darkness will turn to the light and live as children of light.

Download a prayer guide

Mandinka in other countries

The same people is also reported in 6 other countries.

People groupCountryPopulationStatus
MandinkaGambia1,180,000Engaged yet Unreached
MandinkaSenegal1,165,000Engaged yet Unreached
MandinkaGhana177,000Engaged yet Unreached
MandinkaBenin14,500Unengaged and Unreached
MandinkaUnited States2,800Engaged yet Unreached
MandinkaFrance100Unengaged and Unreached

Know something we don't? Submit updates to IMB Global Research.