The World Watch List, published by the Protestant non-profit Open Doors on January 14, 2026, reveals an alarming observation: Never since the creation of this international benchmark in 1993 has the religious freedom of Christians seemed so fragile.
Fifteen countries have reached the threshold of extreme persecution for the first time, a worrying increase.
Twenty-six out of 50 countries have seen their scores worsen. Between October 2024 and September 2025, more than 4,849 Christians were killed for their faith, an increase from the previous year.
Nearly 388 million Christians now live in regions where persecution is considered severe, representing one in seven Christians worldwide.
While sub-Saharan Africa draws attention to the brutality of the violence committed on its soil, a more discreet but equally destructive threat is now spreading across several continents. The 2026 Index highlights the acceleration of what could be called “insidious” persecution, based on the systematic stifling of religious freedoms through administrative, legislative, or digital means.
India: human rights curtailed for Christians
In India, the proliferation of “anti-conversion” laws illustrates this trend. In 2025, Rajasthan became the 12th state to adopt legislation that makes it possible to arbitrarily arrest pastors, ban public preaching, and potentially criminalize any personal attempt to convert from Hinduism to another religion.
This legislative crackdown is accompanied by daily intimidation, arrests, and acts of violence aimed at isolating Christian minorities from Indian society. Christian families live under threat, some children are excluded from schools, and freedom of conversion continues to decline, creating a climate of fear.
On June 21, 2025, Hindu extremists attacked a Christian community in the Odisha region, leaving 20 people seriously injured. On June 26, two nuns and a pastor were arrested and charged with forced conversions.
As for Nepal, it made a comeback in the Index in 2026, ranking 46th after disappearing from the list in 2022. The rise of Hindu nationalist ideology, against a backdrop of political instability, has led to the enforcement of anti-conversion laws similar to those adopted in India. They target Christian communities in particular.
Conversely, Vietnam leaves the Index for the first time: no attacks on churches or murders of Christians have been recorded there this year.
In China, bringing religion into line with Party doctrines
China has also taken a new step in its control of religion, rising to 17th place on the Index. In 2025, the ban on all religious education for minors was strictly enforced. The authorities have been stepping up police raids, dispersing unofficial churches and forcing their leaders to show their support for the Communist Party.
The policy of “sinicization” of religions suppresses any independent expression of faith: at least 1,000 churches have been closed in 2025. In addition, the “Regulations on the Online Behavior of Religious Personnel,” published by the Party in September 2025, prevents any online evangelism or Christian mobilization. In July 2025, more than 300 police officers arrested 70 Christians in eastern China, with some receiving fines for meeting in private places.
The isolation of Christians in Algeria
If Pope Leo is able to visit Algeria in the coming months as he has indicated, he might weigh in on the situation of Christian persecution there.
In Algeria, the religious landscape is gradually closing in on Christians. As of the end of 2025, forty-seven churches belonging to the Protestant Church of Algeria were permanently closed, many sealed by order of the authorities. Three-quarters of Algerian Christians now live in isolation, deprived of any real community, sometimes even of any contact with other believers.
State control also extends to the virtual world, with the sudden closure in 2025 of a large Christian Facebook group with more than 60,000 subscribers. Administrative pressure and surveillance of these communities constitute a form of violence that receives little media coverage but is gradually ostracising Algeria's 156,000 Christians.
These “insidious persecutions” don’t make much noise, but they’re gradually depriving Christians of any space for freedom and pushing them underground. They reveal a new form of persecution which, far from being limited to physical violence, is now infiltrating the legislative, administrative, and digital apparatus of entire societies.
