The Countries Where It’s Most Dangerous to Be a Christian
In 2021, 360 million Christians lived in places where they experienced high levels of persecution and discrimination. Of that number, 6,175 believers were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, or imprisoned, 3,829 were abducted, and 5,898 were killed for their faith. For the past 30 years, the Open Doors World Watch List has tracked such persecution, offered a global indicator of countries where human and religious rights are being violated, and highlighted those countries most vulnerable to societal unrest and destabilization. “The World Watch List is always sobering to read, just because the problem is so big,” says David Curry, president, and CEO of Open Doors. “But it’s not new; Satan has targeted God’s people since the beginning. It’s just gotten worse, and more sophisticated.” Persecution is extremely high in Afghanistan, which for the first time has supplanted North Korea as the most dangerous country to be a Christian. The 2022 World Watch List reveals that persecution