More than 388 million Christians worldwide faced serious persecution or discrimination because of their faith in 2025, according to the annual report released today by the non-governmental organization Portes Ouvertes (Open Doors).
“This represents an increase of eight million compared to 2024,” said David Haemerlin,, Director of Portes Ouvertes for France and Belgium, during a press conference in Paris, expressing concern over what he described as a “record level”.
The Protestant NGO clarified that this figure does not mean that 388 million Christians are directly persecuted, but rather that they live in regions where severe persecution occurs.
A similar assessment was presented in November by the Catholic organization Aid to the Church in Need (Aide à l’Église en Détresse – AED), which estimated that 413 million Christians live in countries where religious freedom is not respected, while 280 million are directly exposed to persecution.
According to Portes Ouvertes, during the period from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025, at least 4,849 Christians were killed, 4,712 were imprisoned, and 3,632 churches were attacked. The report also documents 22,702 Christians forced to flee their countries due to persecution, as well as 4,055 cases of sexual violence.
North Korea remains at the top of the persecution ranking, where “faith in God is considered treason against the regime,” followed by Somalia, where the survival of converts to Christianity “depends on absolute anonymity,” and Yemen, according to the report.
“Since 2015, sub-Saharan Africa has been the world’s leading region for Christians killed because of their faith,” said Guillaume Guennec, one of the NGO’s directors, noting that 4,491 deaths were recorded there. He added, however, that this region also has the largest Christian population globally.
The report highlights that 1,000 churches were targeted in both Nigeria and China, the latter intensifying policies aimed at “domesticating” Christianity. India recorded the highest number of imprisoned Christians (2,192), largely due to the application of anti-conversion laws. Meanwhile, Syria rose sharply in the ranking, moving from 18th to 6th place.
Based on 84 criteria and contributions from 5,000 sources, Portes Ouvertes has published its annual World Watch List since 1993, documenting forms of persecution ranging from social exclusion to extreme violence.
Some of the organization’s figures were cited last year by American conservatives and Donald Trump, who threatened military intervention in Nigeria over alleged persecution of Christians—a claim rejected by Nigerian authorities and several researchers.
Addressing the complexity of the issue, where religious, political, and economic motives may overlap, Portes Ouvertes defended its methodology, emphasizing that it only counts cases in which it is certain that Christians were targeted specifically because of their faith.
“If violence is not linked to their faith, or if Christians suffer in the same way as the rest of the population, we do not consider it persecution,” the organization stressed. “We reject the political instrumentalization of our research, but our figures are public, and we stand by them,” Haemerlin concluded.
Source: ANA-MPA
