North Korea is the most dangerous country to be a Christian.
WHERE FAITH IS DANGEROUS
The World Watch
List 2025
What would your Christian life look like if you lived somewhere else? Would you be imprisoned for your faith, followed by secret police, or kidnapped by extremists?
The World Watch List reveals the 50 most dangerous countries to be a Christian. Produced annually by expert analysts, the World Watch List is the most authoritative of its kind.
Discover the places where believers are forced to choose between faith and freedom.
Persecution across the world
World Watch List
World Watch List
2025 Report
The World Watch List 2025 is a crucial resource for any Christian seeking to better understand and support the persecuted church.
Download your free digital report today.
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You cannot help every persecuted Christian…
BUT YOU CAN
HELP ONE
Living under persecution means that every day brings harrowing challenges. Some can be life-threatening. Your gift will impact vulnerable believers facing horrific circumstances.
$100 can help a persecuted Christian family survive by providing vital food relief.
Strengthen one believer, and they will strengthen many more.
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WORLD WATCH LIST
SCORING
EXPLAINED
Our expert researchers measure developing trends in Christian persecution each year from 1 November – 31 October through on-the-ground interviews and data collection. In over 70 countries, we uncover where the Church is most persecuted.
There are two main ways Christians experience persecution: violence and pressure.
Violence
Based on the number of violent incidents in the reporting period.
Pressure
Measured in five spheres of life: private, family, national, church, and community.
Each country receives a score based on a detailed report of violent incidents and the five spheres of pressure. These are added up to a score out of 100, creating each country’s rank on the World Watch List.
EXPLORE THE WORLD WATCH LIST
World Watch List 2025 Report
Buy yours today
The World Watch List 2025 is a crucial resource for any Christian seeking to better understand and support the persecuted church.
Purchase your printed copy of the 22-page report for $5.
Buy NowWHERE PERSECUTION COMES FROM
WHAT TYPES OF PERSECUTION DO CHRISTIANS FACE
Our experts use nine broad categories to measure the source of persecution:
- Islamic Oppression – Any violent or non-violent action used to bring countries, communities, and households under Islamic control.
- Religious Nationalism – Using the country’s majority religion to imply Christians do not qualify as citizens.
- Clan Oppression – Instances where a clan or extended family ensures the ongoing practice of traditional values or belief systems by force.
- Ethno-Religious Hostility – When one ethnic group subjects another to hostility based on their religion.
- Christian Denominational Protectionism – Making one Christian denomination the only legitimate expression of Christianity in the country.
- Communist and Post-Communist Oppression – To monitor and control Christians and churches through a system based on communist values.
- Secular Intolerance – To eradicate Christian expression from public life and impose atheistic secularism.
- Dictatorial Paranoia – Persecution derived from an authoritarian government which does everything to maintain power, including tearing down organised groups like Christians.
- Organised Corruption & Crime – Gangs and criminal groups create a climate of anarchy and corruption for selfish gain. Christians will often speak out against them and become targets for persecution.
WORLD
WATCH
LIST FAQs
How is the World Watch list put together?
The first World Watch List was produced in January 1993. Countries’ overall persecution scores are an amalgamation of six different scores. This year’s list covers the period 1 Oct 2021 – 30 Sept 2024.
Released at the beginning of each year, the list uses extensive research, data from Open Doors field workers, their in-country networks, external experts and persecution analysts to quantify and analyse persecution worldwide. Each edition is certified by the International Institute for Religious Freedom.
Read: 30 Years Of The World Watch ListHow can we pray?
Please stand with us in prayer. As Open Doors founder, Brother Andrew, says: “Our prayers can go where we cannot… there are no borders, no prison walls, no doors that are closed to us when we pray.” Ephesians 6.18 reminds us, to ‘keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.’
Each quarter we release a prayer guide to help you in praying for the Top 50 countries on the World Watch list. Prayer points have come from our partners on the field and the families and communities they serve. Whether you pray alone or with your bible study or group, we know your prayers are powerful and effective.
Sign up to get a Prayer Guide delivered every quarter.
Sign up todayHow can my church get involved?
We love when churches get involved in learning about the persecuted church. We have resources for you or your pastor to share in church and information to help you pray and support your suffering brothers and sisters in Christ.
Find out moreHow can I help?
We need to stand with our suffering brothers and sisters. Here’s three ways to help:
- Pray: One Afghan believer said, ‘it’s only because of you, because of your prayers that we are still here. If it had not been for your prayers, we would be long gone.
- Give: The needs of the persecuted church are constant. Emergency relief and trauma counselling after an attack; Support to rebuild churches and homes; bibles and Christian resources to strengthen believer’s faith.
- Share: One of the reasons the World Watch List was created was to grow a greater awareness of the depth and breadth of persecution against Christian. Help share the stories of the persecuted church through your church, small group and online.
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FEATURED
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SudanSudan | Christians Targeted On All Sides in Hidden Conflict
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IranIran | Christians face six-fold increase in prison sentences
More than 900 Iranian civilians were executed in 2024. Countless more received death sentences for religiously based charges. Ninety-six Iranian…
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MyanmarMyanmar: Churches Pull Together in Aftermath of Earthquake
After two earthquakes hit Myanmar late March, Open Doors’ local partners immediately leapt into action. Because of our long-term partnerships…
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MexicoMexico | Christian Rehab Centre Massacre Leaves 10 Dead
In the early hours of 7 April, armed assailants stormed the Shaddai Rehabilitation Center in Culiacán, Sinaloa, brutally killing nine…
“If someone is willing to kill me for my faith, my God must be powerful.”
Sara, Egypt