Why we pray
You cannot pray well for people you do not know. This year's theme asks whether we really know what our brothers and sisters are facing. Here is what the record shows for 2025.
Two patterns of persecution
Christians experience persecution in very different ways. The 2025 data shows two distinct patterns.
Violence from armed groups
In sub-Saharan Africa, and in Nigeria above all, Christians face lethal violence from armed groups that are not part of the state. Nigeria accounted for 3,792 of the killings, more than four in five, and for 2,486 of the abductions. Together with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it accounts for over 90 percent of the killings recorded. Homes are destroyed and families are driven from their communities.
Pray for protection for believers in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique; for families who have lost loved ones or been forced from their homes; and for governments to protect all their citizens.
Pressure from the state
In China, Iran, Russia and parts of Latin America, pressure comes from governments themselves, through arrest, prosecution and the closure of churches. Government officials carried out 812 of the 843 arrests recorded and were responsible for 198 of the 199 prison sentences.
Pray for believers in prison and their families; for courage and wisdom for church leaders; and for those in authority to respect the freedom to believe and worship.
Where it is happening
| Category | Top five countries in 2025 (recorded cases) |
|---|---|
| Killings | Nigeria 3,792 · DR Congo 445 · Mozambique 72 · Ethiopia 58 · Haiti 42 |
| Abductions | Nigeria 2,486 · DR Congo 99 · Ethiopia 77 · Myanmar 32 · Cameroon 30 |
| Arrests | China 228 · Iran 115 · Tanzania 89 · Russia 61 · Thailand 60 |
| Prison sentences | Russia 88 · China 41 · Iran 32 · Cuba 14 · Nicaragua 7 |
| Forced from home | Nigeria 2,117 · Mozambique 777 · DR Congo 346 · Kenya 100 · Nicaragua 62 |
| Houses of worship affected | India 212 · Germany 69 · Mexico 48 · Ukraine 44 · United States 42 |
In India, 200 of the 212 places of worship were closed by the authorities rather than physically damaged. In the other four countries, the incidents were destruction, damage or vandalism. Attacks on church buildings are not confined to countries where Christians face legal restrictions.
About these figures
All figures come from the Violent Incidents Database of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF) and cover January to December 2025. They count incidents in which the victims were recorded as Christian.
- They record what was reported, not everything that happened. They are a floor, not a total.
- Higher figures for Nigeria in 2025 partly reflect IIRF's expanded data collection there, not only a change on the ground.
- Other organizations publish different figures because they measure in different ways. Neither approach is wrong.
- The killings figure describes the most extreme cases. It does not describe all persecution.
IIRF's method is set out in an open-access, peer-reviewed article in the International Journal for Religious Freedom.