What comes to mind when you hear the words “North Africa”? Do you think about the pyramids in Egypt or the civil war in Sudan? Maybe the name conjures up images of people suffering from malnutrition and diseases like AIDS and malaria.
But what about the spiritual darkness in the region? Does that cross your mind?
According to the CIA World Factbook, five out of seven North African countries are at least 98 percent Muslim. Egypt is 90 percent Muslim, while Sudan is 70 percent Muslim.
The International Mission Board groups North Africa into its Arab World affinity bloc, along with West Asia. Affinity blocs are categories of people groups around the world based on similar language, history and culture.
Most of the people in the affinity blocs are usually native to a geographical location.
The Arab World affinity bloc has 670 people groups with more than 425 million people. Of these people groups,
• 581 groups — more than 417 million people — are unreached. This constitutes 98.2 percent of the total Arab World population.
• 552 groups — more than 279 million people — are considered last frontier (people groups who have not had an evangelical church started among them within the past two years).
• 479 groups — more than 411 million people — live in countries that are rated “not free” or “partly free” by Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization that measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties, which include the freedoms of expression and belief.
• 156 groups — more than 159 million people — have Islam as their primary religion. An indefinite number of these groups is 100 percent Muslim.
• 121 groups — more than 14 million people — do not have Scripture available in their primary language. (TAB)
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