“If one part [of the Body of Christ] suffers, every part suffers with it.” 1 Corinthians 12:26

The world has become less tolerant and less safe for hundreds of millions of Christians. Based on current statistics, every day around the world …

8 Christians are killed for their faith

23 Christians are raped or sexually harassed

25 Churches are targeted and attacked

10 Christians are unjustly arrested or imprisoned for their faith.

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Every week around the world …

186 church buildings are attacked

276 Christian homes are burned or destroyed.

The number of persecuted Christians internationally has risen by 15 million in the past year. According to persecution watchdog organization Open Doors (@OpenDoors) 2020 World Watch List (#WWL2020), 260 million Christians live in countries where they experience high, very high, or extreme levels of persecution; up from 245 million in 2019.

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[See the Bible Gateway Blog post, The Staggering Picture of Christian Persecution: An Interview with Johnnie Moore]

This year Open Doors expanded its global tracking of violent acts against Christians to include six new categories: abductions, rape/sexual harassment, forced marriages, physical/mental abuse, and attacks on personal property and Christian businesses.

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The use of technology is advancing and strengthening Christian persecution. “Christian faith is under attack and the methods of that persecution are becoming more sophisticated, and thus pose a greater threat, because they have the ability to oppress on a massive scale now, and I think it’s a blueprint for others,” says David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA. “We hope that bringing light to these atrocities will urge world and local leaders to action.”

[See the Bible Gateway Blog post, Standing Strong Through the Storm: Stories from the Persecuted Church]

“We’re asking people to take a prayer pledge, once a week, to pray for persecuted believers,” says Curry. “We’d love for tens of millions of Christians to be praying for the persecuted church on a weekly basis.”

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Pray for the Persecuted Church]

More than 9,000 churches and Christian buildings were attacked in 51 countries in 2019; more than 5,500 of those attacks took place in China. The total number is more than a 1,000% increase over 2018.

Violent occurrences in 2019. At least:

2,983 Christians were killed for their faith

8,537 Christians were raped or sexually harassed for their faith

9,488 Churches or Christian buildings were attacked

3,711 Christians were unjustly arrested or imprisoned

1,052 Christians were abducted for faith-related reasons

3,315 Christian homes were attacked, burned or destroyed.

While attacks of buildings and churches rose, Christians killed for faith-related reasons dropped from approximately 4,300 in 2019 to some 2,900 in 2020. The reason for this decrease was primarily found in Nigeria, as militant Fulani herdsmen shifted focus from raiding homesteads and communities to kidnappings and roadblocks. An increase was seen in the number of Christians detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, and/or imprisoned—rising from 3,150 in 2019 to some 3,700 in 2020.

[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, I Am N: An Interview with Cole Richards and Jason Peters]

According to the data, 14,645 Christians were physically or mentally abused, with the majority of that activity occurring in India, China, and sub-Saharan African countries where a myriad of jihadist groups aim to create instability. At least 8,500 Christians were raped or sexually abused for reasons related to their faith, a number that should be regarded as the tip of the iceberg, since most sexual harassment happens behind closed doors and is, therefore, more difficult to accurately track.

2020 World Watch List Top 20 (2019 rankings in parentheses)

North Korea (1) Afghanistan (2) Somalia (3) Libya (4) Pakistan (5) Eritrea (7) Sudan (6) Yemen (8) Iran (9) India (10) Syria (11) Nigeria (12) Saudi Arabia (15) Maldives (14) Iraq (13) Egypt (16) Algeria (22) Uzbekistan (17) Myanmar (18) Laos (19)

Read the complete 2020 World Watch List Report

View the complete 2020 World Watch List

Also see news release: Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List reveals surge of violence, ‘human rights nightmare’ in China

Persecution at a Glance

Christians remain one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world. While persecution of Christians takes many forms, it is defined as any hostility experienced as a result of identification with Christ. Christians throughout the world continue to risk imprisonment, loss of home and assets, torture, rape, and death as a result of their faith.

Methodology

The Open Doors World Watch List is the only comprehensive, annual survey of the state of religious liberty for Christians around the world. From Nov. 1, 2018 to Oct. 31, 2019, researchers measured the degree of freedom a Christian has to live out his or her faith in five spheres of life—private, family, community, national and church, plus a sixth category measuring the degree of violence. Points are given for each incident of persecution, and the total points provide the ranking for each country. For more information on the methodology of the Open Doors World Watch List, please visit OpenDoorsUSA.org.

About Open Doors USA

For more than 60 years, Open Doors USA has worked in the world’s most oppressive and restrictive countries for Christians. Open Doors works to equip and encourage Christians living in dangerous circumstances with the threat of persecution and equips the Western church to advocate for the persecuted. Christians are one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world and are oppressed in at least 60 countries. For more information, visit OpenDoorsUSA.org.