Millions of Christians Forced to Flee as Persecution Worsens
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Aid to the Christian in Need (ACN), a Catholic charity, released its latest Persecuted and Forgotten? report on Tuesday, which found that Christian persecution worsened in 10 of the 18 countries examined, including China, Nigeria, and Pakistan, with no overall improvement between August 2024 and June 2026.
"Millions of Christians are part of a mass exodus of those displaced in conflict zones, some of it religiously motivated," stated ACN.
"This has spread, turning entire swathes of countries in Africa and Asia into danger zones."
Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa were featured most prominently, including at least a million Christians displaced in Nigeria, among the displacement of the country’s 3.5 million people, Christian Today reports.
Solomon Ako, a 33-year-old survivor, told ACN militants kidnapped him from his village near Zaria in northern Nigeria and attempted to force him to denounce his faith.
"They immediately asked us to convert and, when we refused, they started beating us. They flogged us with whips. Our legs were put in chains. Shackles [were] placed round our ankles," he said.
Additionally, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Mozambique also face escalating violence from Islamic militants and other armed groups.
The Catholic charity noted in the report that six of the 10 countries most affected by terrorism in the 2026 Global Terrorism Index are based in Africa. There has also been growing concern for Christians in the Middle East, including an 80 percent decrease in the Christian population in Syria. In one incident, there was a suicide attack on Mar Elias Church in Damascus that killed 23 people and injured 65 more.
The ACN report also notes an increased oppression by authoritarian governments in China, Iran, and Nicaragua as seen through crackdowns on churches and restrictions on church content.
Believers in Pakistan, particularly girls and women, are faced with forced marriages and conversion.
"Rarely is religious animosity the sole driver of acts of hatred towards Christians," the report states. "Mostly it forms part of a matrix of factors which can include ethnicity, access to resources, poverty and politics."
According to John Pontifex, ACN UK’s head of press and public affairs, the growing evidence of Christian persecution is due to a lack of confrontation.
"Persecution has become a huge, yet often hidden, factor driving entire communities from their homes, changing the religious demography of entire regions, especially in Africa. What will it take for the world to act?"
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/KlausVedfelt
Originally published October 28, 2026.
