April 2019 – More than 245 million Christians around the world are now suffering “high” to “extremely high” persecution, according to Open Doors 2019 World Watch List. This statistic is up 14% from 2018.
Open Doors believes this extreme rise in persecution is largely driven by Islamic extremism and Communist authoritarianism. In fact, China moved from 43rd to 27th on the Open Doors list of 50 places where it is most dangerous to follow Jesus, while India made the list’s top ten for the first time in 27 years.
Also notable, Open Doors found that one in nine Christians is now highly persecuted, up from one in twelve last year.
In order to serve and strengthen persecuted Christians worldwide, Open Doors monitors nations where freedom of religion is oppressed and/or prohibited.
