Christians are facing escalating violence and persecution across the world, with worshippers burned, villages destroyed and young girls abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to their captors, according to a report.
From Islamist attacks in Africa to state-sponsored repression in Asia, the research paints a disturbing picture of religious freedom deteriorating across the globe.
Recent figures from the Pew Research Center think-tank show that Christians experienced harassment, ranging from verbal abuse to physical attacks and killings, in 165 countries in 2023.
Christians were targeted in more countries than any other religious group, with the disparity growing at a time when harassment of religious communities worldwide had reached record levels.
Separate research by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) estimates that approximately 220million Christians are directly exposed to persecution.
Its report, Persecuted and Forgotten? 2024-26, found that conditions had deteriorated in 55 per cent of the 18 countries examined since the previous assessment.
Africa
Africa has emerged as one of the most dangerous regions for Christians, with six of the ten countries most affected by terrorism in the Global Terrorism Index 2026 located there.
Burkina Faso ranked second, followed by Niger in third place, Nigeria in fourth, Mali in fifth, Somalia in seventh and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in eighth.
Women react to the sight of dead bodies in Dogo Nahwa, Nigeria after 200 Christians were slaughtered
A man stands in his ruined house in Gwet, Plateau State, Nigeria after Christian homes were destroyed
Cameroon and Mozambique also featured among the 20 countries most affected.
In northern Nigeria and across the central Sahel, militants have attacked churches, murdered clergy and driven Christian communities from their homes. Kidnappings, killings and beheadings have become widespread.
In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, repeated assaults on predominantly Christian settlements have contributed to a displacement crisis involving more than 3.5 million people, including at least one million Christians.
Religious restrictions also persist in several northern Nigerian states, where blasphemy laws form part of state penal codes.
These include the destruction of alcohol, bans on eating publicly during Ramadan, even for non-Muslims, and arrests of those who refuse to comply.
Women and girls have been particularly vulnerable to abduction and forced conversion, with data showing that Christians accounted for approximately 95 per cent of the women and girls held during the peak of jihadist kidnappings over the past decade.
Many were pressured to abandon Christianity, subjected to sexual violence and forced into marriages with their abductors.
The past 18 months have also seen numerous kidnappings of Christian children and worshippers attending churches.
Solomon Ako, a 33-year-old Christian from northern Nigeria, described the ordeal he endured after militants descended on his village near the city of Zaria and abducted him.
Speaking to ACN, Solomon recalled being held with other captives in freezing water, submerged up to their necks for hours.
‘They immediately asked us to convert and, when we refused, they started beating us. They flogged us with whips. Our legs were put in chains. Shackles were placed round our ankles,’ he said.
One of the deadliest attacks took place overnight on June 13, 2025, when Fulani militants stormed the town of Yelewata where approximately 98 per cent of the population is Christian.
More than 200 Christians were massacred and around 3,000 people fled for their lives.
The attackers descended on buildings being used as temporary accommodation for displaced families in the market square and massacred people as they slept or attempted to escape, shooting, macheting and burning their victims alive while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar.’
Meanwhile, in Mozambique, Islamist militants have openly declared their intention to establish a caliphate.
Since 2017, an estimated 1,000 Christians have been killed in Cabo Delgado, with reports documenting beheadings, the abduction of children and the destruction of churches and homes.
An armored vehicle of Nigerian Security Forces drives by newly built homes after they were destroyed by Boko Haram
The violence continued in November 2025, when five Christians were killed, including one beheaded, during a series of jihadist attacks in Nampula, northern Mozambique.
Settlements were attacked, hundreds of houses were set alight and thousands of residents were forced to flee, while terrorists abducted women and children.
In Burkina Faso, where reports suggest Islamist groups control at least 40 per cent of the country, Christians have faced pressure to adopt extremist customs, including prescribed dress codes, while others have been executed.
Sudan’s ongoing civil war has also had a devastating impact on Christian communities. The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has displaced millions of people and left more than 150,000 dead.
Evidence cited in the report suggests Christians have been disproportionately affected.
More than 100 churches have been damaged or destroyed since the outbreak of the war more than three years ago, and some Christians have been told to renounce their faith or face starvation as part of a campaign of Islamist repression.
Asia
Meanwhile, across Asia, religious freedom continues to be threatened by authoritarian governments and increasingly powerful extremist groups.
In Pakistan, Christian minorities have faced widespread discrimination and abuse, with women and girls particularly vulnerable to abduction, forced conversion and marriage.
And estimates from 2025 suggested there could be as many as 2,000 kidnapping cases annually, with victims subjected to physical and sexual abuse.
One case involved Saba Shafique, a 12-year-old Christian girl from Lahore who was abducted in February 2025 while buying milk at a local market.
Muhammad Ali, 33, an acquaintance of her family, was accused of kidnapping her, forcibly converting her to Islam and marrying her. He allegedly falsified official documents to make Saba appear to be 18.
Another horrific case of violence involved Kashif, 35, a Christian man who was tortured to death after fellow workers at the farm where he was employed accused him of stealing his employer’s mobile phone.
An initial police report contained evidence that Kashif had been tortured in an attempt to extract a confession. He was beaten with iron rods and had nails hammered into his limbs.
Photographs said to show his remains revealed burn marks, deep gashes and bloodied holes across his body. Members of his community believe the attack had an underlying religious motive.
And, Shagufta Kiran, a 40-year-old Christian mother of four, was sentenced to death in September 2024 after allegedly sharing blasphemous content over text.
In China and North Korea, Christianity is frequently regarded by the authorities as a Western influence and a threat to national unity.
The demolished house church is seen in the city of Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province
North Korea has one of the world’s worst records on religious freedom, according to human rights experts.
Possessing a Bible or taking part in Christian worship can result in arrest, with the regime regarding Protestant Christians as collaborators with imperialist forces and enemies of the state.
Christians are forced to practise their faith in extreme secrecy, with some reportedly concealing their religious beliefs even from their spouses.
Estimates suggest Christians make up a significant proportion of the as many as 190,000 people believed to be imprisoned in North Korean jails and labour camps.
In China, Christians are generally permitted to worship only through state-approved ‘patriotic associations’, which regulate religious practice in accordance with Chinese Communist Party principles.
Restrictions have tightened in several provinces, including Henan and Xinjiang, where people under 18 are prohibited from participating in worship.
India has also experienced a surge in anti-Christian violence, with more than 700 incidents recorded in 2025.
In the Nalbari District, Hindu nationalist extremists set fire to Christmas decorations at a Christian school on Christmas Eve and destroyed festive displays in a nearby shop, while children who were singing Christmas songs in Kerala’s Palakkad District were assaulted and their musical instruments smashed.
In another incident, 26 Christian families were expelled from Bharanda village in Chhattisgarh State in June after refusing to abandon their faith.
In some tribal communities, Christians have even been prevented from burying their dead according to their religious customs.
Middle East
Across the Middle East, Christian minorities continue to face intimidation and attacks from Islamist militias and other non-state groups.
Conflict in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria has contributed to the displacement of Christian communities, while legal and administrative restrictions continue to limit religious freedom across much of the region.
Egypt, home to the largest Christian population in the Middle East, has seen continued reports of women and girls being abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry.
One particularly disturbing case involved Samah, a 27-year-old married Christian woman with a seven-year-old son, who disappeared after getting into a tuk-tuk taxi in Bandar Al-Gharbiya village on December 9, 2025.
Her family initially filed a missing persons report before receiving a telephone call informing them that she had converted to Islam and was being held at the Suez Security Directorate, approximately 380 miles from her home in Girga.
Her relatives travelled for ten hours to reach her, believing she would be allowed to return with them. Her brother, father and mother were eventually permitted to see her.
According to the family, Samah appeared heavily medicated and struggled to speak coherently.
She was wearing a niqab, and when relatives lifted the veil they noticed bruising on her face, leading them to suspect she had been beaten.
Egyptian Christian women attend mass at Abassaiya cathedral in Cairo
Firemen fight a fire at a church surrounded by angry Muslims in the Imbaba neighborhood in Cairo
Samah reportedly clung to her mother and begged to go home, but authorities removed her by force.
Officers subsequently asked her brother to sign a pledge promising not to interfere with his sister’s situation or attempt to bring her home.
He refused, insisting she was being coerced, and was detained for several hours, during which he was reportedly tortured.
Protests over the situation broke out in Girga, a district with a sizeable Christian population. Demonstrators said she was the fifth Christian woman to disappear from the area during 2025.
Her parents appealed directly to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, while supporters launched an international campaign calling for her release.
By the end of December, Samah had been reunited with her family. But others have not been as lucky.
In February 2025, three Christian women – one of them 17 – disappeared within the space of a week.
Two of them were subsequently returned to their families after reportedly being forcibly converted and married to their abductors. The third never returned home.
In October 2025, five Muslim villagers attacked Christian properties in Nazlet Jalf, in Egypt’s Beni Mazar district, pelting buildings with stones and setting fire to farmland owned by Christians.
The violence followed rumours circulating online about a relationship between a Christian teenage boy and a Muslim girl.
During a reconciliation meeting the following day, the Christian boy’s grandfather was fined one million Egyptian pounds. The family was also ordered to sell its home and leave the village, while the teenager was detained pending an investigation by the public prosecutor.
Iran continues to impose severe restrictions on religious freedom, specifically targeting converts from Islam and members of Evangelical churches.
Although some Christian denominations, including Roman Catholics and certain Orthodox and Protestant communities, are officially recognised, they remain subject to harassment and intimidation.
Restrictions include prohibitions on reading or distributing the Bible in Farsi. Converting from Islam is unlawful, with people accused of apostasy facing arrest and imprisonment.
The number of Christians arrested increased sharply in 2025, reaching 254 cases, around twice the figure recorded in 2024.
The crackdown has also involved increasingly severe punishments and penalties, including exclusion from education, employment and healthcare.
In June 2026, six security officers entered a church in Tehran during a worship service, claiming they wanted to identify those attending.
They warned that the building would be requisitioned before a new property deed was issued declaring that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps now owned the church.
