The World Watch List 2025 was published, identifying 50 countries with extreme levels of oppression. Analyzes the period from October 2023 to September 2024. Increased violence in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In Myanmar, Christians are “caught in the fighting.” Pakistan and India remain among the countries most at risk. The situation in Indonesia improves.
Rome () – Persecution against Christians is increasing around the world. In the last year, the number of Christians seriously persecuted or discriminated against for reasons of religion rose from 365 to 380 million: 1 in 7 worldwide. For years, North Korea has been the country most hostile to Christianity. But in Central Asia there is also concern about the spread of authoritarianism: in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, for example, violence against churches has increased as well as restrictions on the right and freedom of association. This is the alarming panorama that emerges from the annual report of the NGO Open Doors, which from October 2023 to September 2024 has counted 4,476 murdered Christians worldwide, 3,944 victims of abuse, 7,000 attacks on churches and 28,000 on homes or businesses. belonging to Christians.
The evangelical organization that since 1955 has defended the rights of Christian communities of all denominations in the world, today published the World Watch List 2025 (Wwl), the list of the 50 countries with the highest level of persecution. The report has been prepared with the help of 4,000 people, including local sources, researchers and analysts. Since 2016, persecution has grown steadily: in 2024 it is confirmed that there are 13 countries (8 in Asia and the Middle East) where an extreme level is recorded, out of nearly 100 monitored. Open Doors analyzes the pressures on six aspects of Christian life (private, family, community, church, public and violence) and considers four types of communities: migrants, non-traditional, converts and those belonging to historic churches.
In Asia, North Korea has applied a “zero tolerance” policy towards Christians for years, the report notes. Between 50,000 and 70,000 are held in forced labor camps. Fugitives are subjected to “brutal interrogations” and are often “forcibly repatriated,” especially from China. The climate of inhospitality caused by the Pyongyang regime in which Christians live feeds the phenomenon of the “Hidden Church.” Here, as in Afghanistan, the Christian religion is lived in a “completely clandestine” way. In the country that has been in the hands of the Taliban since 2021 – position 10 on the World Watch List – “many Christians have been murdered (in a real manhunt), a large part has fled abroad and only a small part has managed to hide”. Also in Iran, which occupies ninth place, Christians “are forced to meet in small groups in private homes,” says Open Doors.
Myanmar is for the first time in the sad ranking, ranking 13th, and is once again among the countries with an extreme level of oppression. The same is true in Yemen – third on the list – where armed conflict leaves Christians “caught in ongoing clashes,” Open Doors notes. In an extremely unstable context, which persists since the military coup in 2021, Christians “languish in displaced persons camps” – more than 100,000 in Kachin State alone – and “the army increasingly attacks Christian churches, where suspects that rebels are hiding.” Persecutions against Christians are also carried out by ethnic rebel forces and “groups that benefit from drug trafficking and other illicit activities.”
The 2025 report shows that the living conditions of Christian communities in Central Asia have worsened. An example of this is Kyrgyzstan, which has had the largest increase in its score since WWL 2024, going from 61st to 47th place. In this case, an “increase in violence against the Church” is observed and Open Doors cites as an example the hostile acts against a Christian organization in Karakul and the Catholic church of St. Nicholas in Talas. These attacks raise fears for the future of Kyrgyzstan, where President Sadır Japarov “is centralizing power.” In Kazakhstan – which ranks 38th and has risen nine places since 2024 – “at least 20 Christian women were sexually abused because of their religion and as many others were forced to marry Muslim men.” There were also reports of “police raids on four meetings in three unregistered Protestant communities in the south,” the report said.
In South Asia, Pakistan remains stable among the top 10 countries on the list – in eighth place – “the second country in the world where the most anti-Christian violence is manifested after Nigeria (3,100 were killed here alone, ed.)”, says Open Doors. This is influenced by blasphemy laws, which are used against Christians – 1.8% of the population – in a “disproportionate” way. India also remains stable in 11th place. “We have been denouncing for years the decline in the fundamental freedoms of the Christian minority, the target of violence and discrimination,” the new report reads. During the period analyzed, 20 Christians were murdered, more than 2,000 were held without trial “in prisons or psychiatric hospitals,” and 459 Christian churches or public properties were attacked.
Finally, the World Watch List 2025 also includes some encouraging news. In Indonesia, extreme forms of violence against Christians are less frequent than last year. In fact, since October 2023, “documented religiously motivated murders of Christians and attacks on churches have decreased,” Open Doors states. A change that may seem “unimportant” from a statistical point of view, but is actually extremely significant, and causes the Southeast Asian country to fall from 42nd to 59th place.
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