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World Watch Research (WWR) is the research department of Open Doors International.

The international team of dedicated researchers collaborates closely with other experts operating at regional, national and sub-national level. Some of these are Open Doors staff, while others are external consultants.

The team carries out research into the persecution of Christians on a solid foundation that aims to withstand scholarly scrutiny and accepts academic guidance. WWR has been gathering and publishing detailed data on the persecution of Christians since 1992.

World Watch List Reports

The World Watch List is Open Doors’ annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. Use these free reports to help you stand with your persecuted family in prayer and action.

WWL prayer pack
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Refugee & IDP report
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Children's report
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How does Open Doors produce the World Watch List?

The World Watch List is an annual ranking of the countries where Christians face the most persecution. It’s a unique, in-depth record of the places where Christians are following Jesus no matter the cost. The data for the 2025 World Watch List covers the period of 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024.

Open Doors understands persecution as “any hostility experienced as a result of one’s identification with Christ.” But measuring persecution is a complex task, and measuring faith-based persecution is even more complex. In many countries, persecution is multidimensional—gender and ethnicity will also play a role, for instance.

To create a comprehensive list, the World Watch Research Unit works closely with researchers in the field to collect survey data and secondary data in the following six areas:

Private life

What freedom does a Christian have to worship and own religious material? Is conversion to Christianity allowed? Is freedom of thought permitted?

Family life

How free are Christians to express their faith within their family? Is it possible to hold Christian family milestones, such as Christian marriages and funerals?

Community life

Can Christians live without harassment and discrimination in their local communities? How does their faith affect their education or employment?

National life

Does the government allow Christians to express their faith? Can converts call themselves Christians on official documents? Do the police target Christians?

Church life

Are Christians allowed to meet together? Can they build churches? And if they can, are they heavily monitored? Are Bibles freely available?

Violence

Are Christians attacked mentally or physically? Are they arrested, abducted, tortured, imprisoned or even killed? Do they face sexual harassment?

Each of these areas is scored, and each of the 150 countries assessed is then given a score out of a hundred for the severity of persecution. A score of 81-100 equates to “extreme” persecution, 61-80 is “very high,” and 41-60 is “high.”

Research methods and results have been independently audited by the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF).

Have additional questions, download the complete methodology documentation from the World Watch Research team.

World Watch List Prayer Updates

The World Watch List Prayer Updates focuses on the different countries on the Open Doors World Watch List. The weekly email provides a short overview of a country and a pdf with relevant prayer points. Use it to help you pray or use it in a PowerPoint in church services, announcements or presentations. If you would like to receive these weekly emails, please complete the form below.

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