Chadian

Locations

Identity

Chadians as a people group are the citizens of Chad counted by nationality rather than by ethnicity. Chad has more than 200 peoples: the Arabic-speaking Shuwa (Baggara) Arabs, the Kanembu and Kanuri around Lake Chad, the Maba of Ouaddai, the Zaghawa, Tubu (Gorane) and others of the north and east, who are mostly Muslim, and the Sara and other mostly Christian peoples of the south. Chadian Arabic is the common language of the Muslim north and east, French the language of school and government. Abroad, Chadians from these peoples share a national identity, Chadian Arabic and, for most, Islam. Splitting them into their peoples is a recommendation, since no source counts them.

Culture & traditions

Chadians abroad keep a shared culture of millet and sorghum boule with okra or dried-meat sauce, sweet tea, the jallabiya and turban for men and the wrapped laffaya for women, large family weddings and naming feasts, and strong ties of clan and home region. Families from the Sahel belt have walked or travelled to Mecca for centuries, and pilgrimage shapes the community's story.

Religious practices

Chadian Muslims are Sunni of the Maliki school, with the Tijaniyya Sufi order widespread; Qur'an schools (khalwa) and memorisation are prized. Chad's Christians, about four in ten at home, are Catholic and Protestant, mostly in the south; Christians are few among Chadians in the Gulf.

Gospel access

The Bible is available in Chadian Arabic, French and several Chadian languages, with the JESUS film and Global Recordings audio. Chad has a sizable church in the south, but the Muslim peoples of the north and east are among the least reached in Africa.

At a glance

Language: French
Language family: Indo-European
Affinity bloc: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
People cluster: Chadic
Primary religion: Islam - Sunni
Bible status: Complete Bible
Jesus Film: Yes
Audio recordings: Yes
Gospel recordings: Available
Radio broadcasts: Not Available
Religious school: Maliki

Religious breakdown

Religion	%	Denomination	Notes
Islam	c. 55%	Sunni (Maliki); Tijaniyya order	North, centre and east of Chad
Christianity	c. 40%	Catholic and Protestant	Mainly the Sara and other southern peoples
Traditional religion	c. 5%		South

Presence by country

LibyaDiasporaVerified presence

Population: ~85,000-90,000
Location: Kufra, Benghazi and Ajdabiya in the east; Zawiya, the farms of al-Murqub (Qasr al-Akhyar, Garabulli, Tarhuna), Misrata, Tripoli and the Nafusa (Gharyan, Yefren) in the west; Murzuq and Sabha in the Fezzan

Chadians, about 91,000 nationals in 2026 (85,000-90,000 of them outside the Zaghawa and Tebu groups), are Libya's fourth-largest foreign community and the one most evenly spread across the country, from the oasis of Kufra on the old caravan road from Faya to the farms around Tripoli and the building sites of Benghazi. They are mostly Muslim men from Chad's north, centre and east: Daza (Gorane), Chadian Arabs, Kanembu, Maba of Ouaddaï and others, who speak Chadian Arabic with one another. Their ties to Libya are old and tangled: Qadhafi's wars and his Islamic Legion drew Chadians north, about 300,000 were working in Libya when the 2011 war sent tens of thousands home, and Chadian rebel groups still keep bases in the Fezzan. Most now come for seasonal farm work and construction, and many cross the desert again to the gold fields of the Tibesti border.

Saudi ArabiaDiasporaVerified presence

Population: ~46,000 (census 46,193)
Location: Jeddah above all; also Mecca, Riyadh and Medina

Chadians in Saudi Arabia are a community of families rather than migrant workers, about 46,000 people with more women than men. Most descend from Muslim pilgrims of Chad's Sahel belt, Arabic-speaking Chadian Arabs, Kanembu, Maba, Hausa and Fulani among them, who for generations crossed Sudan to Mecca and stayed; many of today's Chadians were born in the kingdom and have never lived in Chad. Jeddah holds the largest share, with others in Mecca, Riyadh and Medina, and the men work as drivers, guards, traders, porters and tailors. Because Saudi citizenship is almost impossible to obtain, they live on residence permits that must be renewed, and their children's schooling and health care have depended on those papers.

Also found outside the Middle East and North Africa

Chad, Canada, United States