Around 388 million Christians around the world face some form of intense persecution or discrimination for following Jesus Christ, the 2026 World Watch List, recently released by Open Doors U.S. has found.

For the 24th successive year, North Korea bears is singled out as being "arguably the most dangerous place on earth to follow Jesus," according to Open Doors.

The report by the U.S.-based watchdog found that Christian persecution has reached an unprecedented scale, with more than one in seven Christians being called to suffer for their faith last year, an increase of more than 8 million compared to 2024.

"Of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide during the World Watch List 2026 reporting period because of their Christian identity, 3,490 of them were in Nigeria, an increase from 3,100 in the previous year," says Open Doors in its 2026 World Watch list.

It says that militant violence in sub-Saharan Africa has led to the deaths of thousands of Christians and has displaced many more.

"This extreme violence is enabled by a lack of capacity by national governments to protect their own citizens, whether in the context of civil war or against armed militants," notes the report.

Still, it says attacks on Christian leaders have been reported in many countries.

In the 2026 report, Open Doors focuses on cases from Latin America. Despite many Latin American countries being majority Christian, Christian leaders can be targeted.

This can happen in an authoritarian state such as Nicaragua seeking to silence dissent, or by armed groups seeking control, as in Colombia.

         - BIGGEST ENABLE CHAOS AND ANARCHY

"Perhaps the biggest enabler of persecution is chaos and anarchy," says the report.

"The breakdown of state authority creates lawless zones where criminal gangs and religious extremists can attack Christians secure in the knowledge that they will not face any consequences."

The report cites countries such as Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Myanmar.

"The most striking example this year is Syria (6), where the fall of the Assad regime has resulted in a surge of violence, moving the country up 12 places in the list," according to Open Doors.

Many countries – especially those in sub-Saharan Africa – "have a kind of split personality."

They contain both regions where Christians are persecuted and regions where Christians live in relative tranquility.

The report singles out Nigeria, for example, which is home to Africa's biggest Christian population.

But it is also the nation where Christians face the most violence.

The reason is that, as in a lot of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Christians in the north of this vast country live in an entirely different situation to those in the south.

In the south of Nigeria, there are mega-churches; in the north, thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes and live in camps.

Again, a repeated theme has been the targeting of recent converts.

Families, communities, and local and national authorities place particular pressure on Christian converts to force them back into their original faith.

         - ABUSE OF FEMALE CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY

Female converts, for example, can suffer domestic abuse or imprisonment, while local and national governments sometimes prohibit conversion and an example in the report is given from India.

In some contexts, Christians are targeted through attacks on their ability to meet together, as governments simply shut down local Christian gatherings.

The 2026 World Watch List continues to report on the impact of such closures in Algeria and in other parts of North Africa, as well as China, with such actions driving Christians into isolation.

The regional focus of East Africa, bordering the Red Sea, is a key example cited in the report.

The region contains three of the countries in the top ten countries facing persecution.

In some regions of the world, the longstanding presence of the Christian church leaves it dangerously exposed such as Syria which has seen an increase in violence.

The Christian population in Syria is concentrated in big cities and other locations that have been battlegrounds for strategic control of the country.

Their churches are well-known, and despite a shrunken population, Christian communities are large enough to be visible and are therefore targeted in Syria.