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Understand the numbers.

See where each figure comes from, what it measures, and when it was updated.

Methodology

  • We publish a number only after we compare it with the primary source. Each figure carries its definition, publisher, period, the date we retrieved it, and its license.
  • Figures from other organizations stay theirs. We report them as “Open Doors reports” or “Pew estimates”, never as our own count.
  • Figures from this network’s own records are labeled as such and count only approved, public listings.
  • A figure that has not been checked is not shown. You will see “Data being reviewed” instead.

Figures shown

388,000,000 Christians

Christians facing high levels of persecution and discrimination

Definition
Open Doors’ estimate for the WWL 2026 reporting period: “more than 388 million Christians face high levels of persecution and discrimination.”
Publisher
Open Doors International (World Watch Research)
Published
2024-10-01 – 2025-09-30
Retrieved
Nov 9, 2026 · Checked against source
License
Open Doors: “may be used and distributed free of charge, but please always acknowledge the source as: © Open Doors International.”

Counts and estimates by an advocacy organization, for the World Watch List 2026 reporting period. We report them as Open Doors figures, not as audited totals. Rank and score are not incident counts or probabilities.

4,849 people

Christians killed for faith-related reasons

Definition
Number counted by Open Doors for the reporting period.
Publisher
Open Doors International (World Watch Research)
Published
2024-10-01 – 2025-09-30
Retrieved
Nov 9, 2026 · Checked against source
License
Open Doors: “may be used and distributed free of charge, but please always acknowledge the source as: © Open Doors International.”

Counts and estimates by an advocacy organization, for the World Watch List 2026 reporting period. We report them as Open Doors figures, not as audited totals. Rank and score are not incident counts or probabilities.

3,632 buildings

Churches or Christian public properties attacked, damaged, closed or confiscated

Definition
Number counted by Open Doors for the reporting period.
Publisher
Open Doors International (World Watch Research)
Published
2024-10-01 – 2025-09-30
Retrieved
Nov 9, 2026 · Checked against source
License
Open Doors: “may be used and distributed free of charge, but please always acknowledge the source as: © Open Doors International.”

Counts and estimates by an advocacy organization, for the World Watch List 2026 reporting period. We report them as Open Doors figures, not as audited totals. Rank and score are not incident counts or probabilities.

3,414 people

Christians detained without trial

Definition
Reported separately from people sentenced (1,298).
Publisher
Open Doors International (World Watch Research)
Published
2024-10-01 – 2025-09-30
Retrieved
Nov 9, 2026 · Checked against source
License
Open Doors: “may be used and distributed free of charge, but please always acknowledge the source as: © Open Doors International.”

Counts and estimates by an advocacy organization, for the World Watch List 2026 reporting period. We report them as Open Doors figures, not as audited totals. Rank and score are not incident counts or probabilities.

201,427 people

Christians forced to leave their homes or go into hiding within their country

Definition
A further 22,702 were forced to leave their country, per the same document.
Publisher
Open Doors International (World Watch Research)
Published
2024-10-01 – 2025-09-30
Retrieved
Nov 9, 2026 · Checked against source
License
Open Doors: “may be used and distributed free of charge, but please always acknowledge the source as: © Open Doors International.”

Counts and estimates by an advocacy organization, for the World Watch List 2026 reporting period. We report them as Open Doors figures, not as audited totals. Rank and score are not incident counts or probabilities.

28.8 % of world population

Share of the world’s population that is Christian, 2020

Definition
Pew: Christians were 28.8% of the world’s population in 2020, about 2.3 billion people. The share fell 1.8 percentage points from 2010.
Publisher
Pew Research Center
Published
2020-01-01 – 2020-12-31
Retrieved
Nov 9, 2026 · Checked against source
License
Pew Research Center terms apply. Reuse and attribution terms still need owner confirmation before redistribution.

Estimates for 201 countries and territories with at least 100,000 people in 2010 or 2020, as described by Pew. These are estimates of religious affiliation, not counts of church members or of this network.

25.6 % of world population

Share of the world’s population that is Muslim, 2020

Definition
Pew: the Muslim share rose 1.8 percentage points from 2010.
Publisher
Pew Research Center
Published
2020-01-01 – 2020-12-31
Retrieved
Nov 9, 2026 · Checked against source
License
Pew Research Center terms apply. Reuse and attribution terms still need owner confirmation before redistribution.

Estimates for 201 countries and territories with at least 100,000 people in 2010 or 2020, as described by Pew. These are estimates of religious affiliation, not counts of church members or of this network.

24.2 % of world population

Share of the world’s population with no religious affiliation, 2020

Definition
Pew: up from 23.3% in 2010.
Publisher
Pew Research Center
Published
2020-01-01 – 2020-12-31
Retrieved
Nov 9, 2026 · Checked against source
License
Pew Research Center terms apply. Reuse and attribution terms still need owner confirmation before redistribution.

Estimates for 201 countries and territories with at least 100,000 people in 2010 or 2020, as described by Pew. These are estimates of religious affiliation, not counts of church members or of this network.

Datasets and their status

DatasetPublisherStatus
World Watch List 2026: global headline figuresOpen Doors International
2024-10-01 – 2025-09-30
Checked against source
World Watch List 2026: country ranks 1–50
Scores shown only where printed in the source text (5–7, 16, 17, 20, 29, 36).
Open Doors International
2024-10-01 – 2025-09-30
Checked against source
Pew: global religious composition, 2020Pew Research Center
2020
Checked against source
Christian share by country
Not displayed. Needs a sourced dataset with year and denominator before the demographics layer can show it.
Carried over from the previous site; no source recordedNot shown: being reviewed
Christians by world region
Not displayed until checked against the original report.
Attributed to Pew Research Center on the previous site; figures not re-checkedNot shown: being reviewed
Christians facing high persecution, 2014–2026
Not displayed. Methodology changed between years, so the series needs per-year checking.
Attributed to Open Doors annual reports on the previous site; earlier years not re-checkedNot shown: being reviewed
Scripture access by language
Not displayed until checked against the original statistics.
Attributed to Wycliffe Global Alliance on the previous site; figures not re-checkedNot shown: being reviewed
United States church snapshot
Not displayed until each figure is checked against its report.
Attributed to Lifeway, Gallup and Barna on the previous site; figures not re-checkedNot shown: being reviewed