At least 380 million Christians faced high levels of persecution and discrimination in 2024, an increase of 15 million from the year before, the Worthy News website reports today (Jan. 18, 2025).
Christian advocacy group Open Doors, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, revealed the figure in its annual World Watch List report of 50 nations where Christians "face most persecution" for their faith.
North Korea, as in most previous years, ranks number one in the report focusing on Christians that were reportedly persecuted from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.
Christians in North Korea could face execution or imprisonment in a labor camp if their faith is discovered, Open Doors warned. The 2021 "Law Against Reactionary Thought" reaffirmed the ban on the Bible. Belief in God is considered a betrayal of the state in a country founded on a personality cult, several sources said.
Despite the targeted oppression, the latest World Watch List reported that around 400,000 believers in North Korea are continuing to "bear witness" to the love of Christ.
Open Doors estimated that 4,744 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned for their faith, including in India, where "1,629 Christians were detained without trial , and another 547 were sentenced to prison."
Other countries where Christians have faced imprisonment for their faith include China, Eritrea, Bangladesh, and Iran.
Founded in 1955, Open Doors International, as it is officially known, has offices in 27 countries to advocate and provide services for persecuted Christians worldwide.
The group aims "to encourage and raise up people in every nation to pray, support, and speak up for Christians around the world who suffer for their faith."
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