Rome Newsroom, Jan 15, 2025 / 11:20 am
Nigeria was the country with the most Christians killed and kidnapped in 2024, according to the latest report from advocacy group Open Doors.
The World Watch List, released Jan. 15, found that 3,100 Christians were killed and 2,830 Christians were kidnapped in Nigeria in 2024, far more than other countries in the same year.
The report also said the country with the most Christians arrested in 2024 was India, at 2,176, and Rwanda experienced the most attacks on Christian churches or buildings with 4,000.
The Open Doors watch list confirmed that Christian persecution continued to grow “in absolute terms” among the about 100 countries the group monitored in 2024, with 13 countries classified at “extreme levels” of Christian persecution.
The group estimates over 380 million Christians worldwide experienced at least a “high level” of persecution and discrimination because of their faith.
North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan are the report’s top five countries for Christian persecution in 2024. Nigeria ranks No. 7 on the watch list. Eritrea, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Saudi Arabia, and Myanmar round out the top 13 countries, all classified as having “extreme” levels of anti-Christian persecution.
With the release of the World Watch List 2025, Open Doors Italy Director Cristian Nani said, “380 million Christians in the world do not enjoy the basic human right to believe what they want. How many more killed, displaced, abused, and imprisoned Christians do we need to count before we put religious freedom at the center of public debate?”
“In 32 years of research, we record a steady increase in anti-Christian persecution in absolute terms,” Nani added. “2024 is again a record year of intolerance: 1 in 7 Christians suffer discrimination or persecution because of their faith: It is crucial to get back to talking about religious freedom in the public debate.”
Open Doors, which supports persecuted Christians in more than 70 countries, compiles its annual World Watch List through information from local networks, national researchers, external experts, and an ad hoc team of analysts.
To formulate its ranking, the advocacy group analyzes the pressure on a Christian’s life in five areas: private, family, community, church, and public life. Violence is added as a separate element in the analysis.
Nigeria has been grappling with Muslim extremist violence since 2009, perpetrated by groups such as Boko Haram, which reportedly persecute Christians, sometimes kidnapping them for ransom and, in some cases, killing them.
While a 2025 report from the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need said the abduction of Catholic clergy and religious in Nigeria decreased from 28 in 2023 to 12 in 2024, it is still one of the most dangerous countries in which to be a priest or religious.
The latest religious to be kidnapped in Nigeria, Sisters Vincentia Maria Nwankwo and Grace Mariette Okoli, who were abducted on Jan. 7 from the Archdiocese of Onitsha, have been released and are “in good health,” according to the leadership of their congregation, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Christ (IHM).
