Around 380 million Christians face “very high or extreme levels” of persecution or discrimination worldwide, according to Open Doors International, which advocates on behalf of persecuted Christians. That is one in seven Christians across the world. However, one in five Christians is persecuted in Africa and two in five in Asia.

The annual Open Doors World Watch List revealed that almost 4,500 Christians were killed for their faith in 2024, 69 per cent of whom were in Nigeria. Nigeria, ranked seventh, remains “among the most urgently dangerous places for Christians on earth,” according to the report, primarily because of violent attacks by Islamic, ethnic Fulani militias in the country’s northern states. The attacks are meant to drive Christian communities off the land they farm.

North Korea remains the most dangerous country to be Christian, followed by Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.