Christian persecution – SemperVerus

Staggering Increase of Violence Against Christians: World Watch List

North Korea retains its hold as the most brutal and dangerous country for Christians, but 14 Sub-Saharan African countries (ranked in order: #2–Somalia, #4–Sudan, #5–Eritrea, #7–Nigeria, #15–Mali, #16–Burkina Faso, #21–Mauritania, #22–Central African Republic, #26–Niger, #29–Congo DR (DRC), #37–Cameroon, #39–Mozambique, #43–Comoros, and #48–Chad) comprise the global epicenter of violence against followers of Jesus, according to this year’s World Watch List, Open Doors’ annual compilation of the 50 most perilous countries for believers in Christ.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS ]

The 14 countries constitute more than 721 million people, nearly half of whom identify as Christian; one of every 8 Christians in the world lives in those countries. Only three countries out of the 50 on the List have the maximum score for violence. All three of them are sub-Saharan: Sudan, Nigeria, and Mali.

By semperverus
Posted on 01/17/202601/19/2026

Nigeria, Rwanda, China, Mozambique, and Mexico Are the Top Persecutors of Christians: GCR Red List

The organization Global Christian Relief (GCR) has published its annual report for 2026, titled Red List, revealing the top 5 worst countries for Christian persecution across five categories of concern: most arrests & sentences, assaults & abductions, killings, displacements, and destruction of buildings.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Nigeria Is Deadliest Country for Christians: GCR Red List 2025 ]

New this year is the accompanying prayer guide, which shows exactly how you can pray for the concerns and believers in each country.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS ]

Nigeria leads in the category of killings, with 590 documented and verified killings (as recorded in the Violent Incidents Database) November 2023 to October 2025, according to GCR, out of the total number of 1,972 killings in the top five countries in the category. Following Nigeria are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 447 killings, Ethiopia with 177 killings, Russia with 167 killings, and Mozambique with 94.

[ Bookmark the SemperVerus CHURCH SECURITY INTELLIGENCE CLIPBOARD ]

US President Donald Trump added Nigeria to the US State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern in 2025, guilty of egregious and unchecked religious persecution, based on the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.

100 Million Christians Lack Access to the Bible

Somalia ranks #1 on the Bible Access List (BAL) of 88 countries where access to the Bible is blocked by law, actions of religious extremists, or acts by other nonstate actors.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of the BIBLE ]

The BAL, a new annual assessment, uncovers the stark reality of the lack of Bible access for an estimated 100 million Christians around the globe. The report combines data-driven analysis with contextual understanding and shows where access to the Bible is most restricted and where the shortage among believers is greatest.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION ]

In Somalia—where 99.7% of the population is Muslim and 0.3% is Christian, according to Operation World—multiple forces of persecution operate simultaneously to restrict Bible access, including Islamic oppression, clan oppression, organized corruption and crime, and dictatorial paranoia, according to BAL’s profile of that country.

Counterterrorism Guide: Situational Awareness to Hinder An Attack

The Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT) is a US interagency collaboration based at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which is aligned under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

[ Bookmark the SemperVerus CHURCH SECURITY INTELLIGENCE CLIPBOARD ]

Working with intelligence analysts from NCTC, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), JCAT’s primary mission is to improve counterterrorism information sharing between federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government agencies and the private sector. The latter is where that information is adaptable for personal self-defense and church security teams in being situationally aware to pre-indicators of criminal and terroristic attacks.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of SITUATIONAL AWARENESS ]

One resource is JCAT’s Counterterrorism Guide For Public Safety Personnel, offering content to assist self-defenders and church safety volunteers in: