a people inhabiting the territory around the upper course of the Black Volta River to the southeast and east of the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in Upper Volta, and also the neighboring regions of the Ivory Coast and Ghana. The population, together with related peoples such as the Bobo, totals approximately 1.5 million (1970, estimate). The Lobi language is related to the Gur group (Central Bantoid). Many vestiges of communal and tribal systems and customs have been preserved among the Lobi. Traditional beliefs (animism, ancestor worship) are widely held; some of the Lobi profess Islam or Christianity. The chief occupations are farming and the breeding of cattle, sheep, and goats.