Nigeria, Congo and Ethiopia Pegged as Most Deadly Countries For Christians in a New Report

👉 Courtesy: https://www.youtube.com/@globalchristianrelief

💭 The new Red List report exposes shocking verified data about Christian persecution worldwide. For the first time, we're revealing exact numbers of documented killings, arrests, and attacks against Christians - and the findings are devastating.

In Nigeria alone, 9,814 Christians were killed in just two years. But that's just the beginning. Learn which other countries made our top 5 list and why this data matters for the persecuted church.

Africa remains the deadliest region for Christians, with Nigeria consistently being the most dangerous country for followers of Jesus. Between November 2022 and November 2024, nearly 10,000 Christians were killed, primarily by Islamic extremist groups such as Boko Haram, Armed Fulani Herdsmen, and the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP). Similar patterns emerge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique, and Ethiopia, where numerous armed militant groups target Christians. In Russia, 164 Christian fatalities were recorded, primarily in the Muslim-majority region of Dagestan.

Global Christian Relief released its “2025 Red List” of the most dangerous countries for Christians on Tuesday, using verified data to document killings, arrests, forced displacements and attacks on property.

Nigeria is the deadliest nation for Christians, replacing the totalitarian state of North Korea, according to a humanitarian nonprofit group’s latest annual report on the persecution of Christians around the world.

Global Christian Relief released its “2025 Red List” of the most dangerous countries for Christians on Tuesday, using verified data to document killings, arrests, forced displacements and attacks on property.

Over the past two years, Nigeria has become the most intolerant environment for Christians, with nearly 10,000 believers killed primarily by extremist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State affiliates.

Attacks historically have been concentrated in the Muslim-majority north of the West African nation. Still, they have spilled over into the Christian south of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, according to Open Doors UK, a Christian humanitarian organization based in Britain.

Boko Haram and the Islamic State’s West Africa Province, both aligned with the Islamic State military group, specifically target Christians and use tactics like killing Christian men to destabilize families and communities, Open Doors wrote in 2022.

Meanwhile, environmental pressures are pushing Fulani herdsmen southward, igniting conflicts with Christian farmers. Militant factions have turned these disputes into ethnic and religious violence, further devastating Christian regions, humanitarian groups report.

In Global Christian Relief’s “2025 Red List,” African nations occupy the top four spots for the world’s most dangerous countries for Christians — in order: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Ethiopia. Russia is ranked No. 5

Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, the ongoing war in the Tigray region has fostered lawlessness and widespread violence, further endangering Christian communities.

In Azerbaijan, military offensives forced the entire Christian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to flee in 2023, marking the most significant displacement of Christians globally, the group noted.

Meanwhile, China led the world in arrests of Christians, with more than 1,500 believers detained under the communist government’s religious prohibitions — 1,000 more than the next-highest known count in Eritrea, with 475.

Ron Boyd-MacMillan, Global Christian’s chief of research and strategy, pointed to the importance of global advocacy in curbing violence.

“Speaking out for more freedom has very powerful effects, and we have seen that time and time again. Our hope is that the [incoming Trump] administration and people around the world will join us in advocating for those being persecuted,” Mr. Boyd-MacMillan said.

President-elect Donald Trump, in his previous administration, spearheaded a few measures to increase protections for Christians worldwide. In 2019, he headed the United Nations Event on Religious Freedom, where he called for countries to increase religious liberty.

“To stop the crimes against people of faith, release prisoners of conscience, repeal laws restricting freedom of religion and belief, protect the vulnerable, the defenseless, and the oppressed, America stands with believers in every country who ask only for the freedom to live according to the faith that is within their own hearts,” Mr. Trump said in 2019.

👉 Download the full Red List report here: https://www.gcrelief.org/redlist