New World Watch List Reveals Statistics on Persecution of Christians and the Top 50 Most Dangerous Countries for Christians
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Open Doors just released its World Watch List, revealing the 50 countries globally with the highest levels of discrimination against Christians. Around the world, about 365 million were affected by persecution in 2023, up from previous years. North Korea is still at the top. In Asia, Yemen, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan follow.
4,998 Christians murdered
Thirteen Christians a day were killed for their faith in 2023, on average. Nigeria remains the deadliest place to follow Jesus; 82% of killings happened here. Violence only eased during Nigeria’s elections, which accounted for a drop in the number of Christians killed globally compared to 2023.
14,766 churches and Christian properties attacked
The number of attacks on churches and Christian-run schools, hospitals and cemeteries has exploded in 2023, up seven-fold compared to the previous year. It’s been driven by mob violence in India, church closures in China, and attacks in Nigeria, Nicaragua and Ethiopia.
295,120 Christians displaced
When countries are destabilised by war or extremism, Christians are at risk. In 2023, the number of believers forced to flee their homes more than doubled. Across the most dangerous countries for believers in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 3% of all Christians are displaced.
Trends
Persecution is worsening
More than 365 million (one in seven) Christians face high levels of persecution for their faith – and persecution is becoming dangerously violent in countries on the World Watch List.
Attacks on churches and Christian properties sky-rocketed in 2023, as more Christians than ever recorded faced violent attacks.
Amid lawlessness, jihadist groups like al-Qaeda and Boko Haram have thrived. Weak governments fail to stop them. And militants attack Christian communities and churches with impunity.
Most Christians murdered for their faith in 2023 were killed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria accounted for nine out of 10 religiously-motivated murders. Christians were also killed in Congo (DRC), Burkina Faso, Cameroon and the Central African Republic (CAR).
Many more Christians have also been forced from their homes. Of 34.5 million displaced people across Sub-Saharan Africa, around 16.2 million are Christians.
Churches under attack
More than 14,700 churches or Christian properties such as schools and hospitals were targeted in 2023. It marked a six-fold increase compared with attacks recorded the previous year.
In China, at least 10,000 churches were closed. In India, Christian properties were raided by violent mobs. And in Algeria, where there were 47 official Protestant churches, only four remain open and they are now under intense pressure.
View the World Watch List 2024
Good News
Progress in Mali
In June 2023, voters in Mali adopted a new constitution. Why is it significant? There are two reasons…One, the constitution clearly recognises the non-Muslim minorities (including Christians) in the country. And two, the constitution paves the way for elections (in 2024) in a nation currently ruled by a military government.
Hope in India
Anti-conversion laws in a key southern state of India have been rolled back. It happened after the Congress Party (the main opposition to India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP) won a crucial election in the state of Karnataka.
The move brings hope to Christians who’ve been harassed and intimidated under the controversial law. Open Doors has long warned that anti-conversion laws are a tool of persecution.
Growing church
Laos, in south east Asia, saw the biggest increase in persecution across the world, up 10 places in the World Watch List. But behind the statistics is another story… one of faith, hope and church growth.
“In all my years,” says our Open Doors country expert, “I have never seen a clearer connection between growing opposition and a growing church. I find it comforting that the biblical verses predicting this connection are still true.”
Source: Open Doors International
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