Christian persecution has intensified across parts of Asia as authoritarian rule, religious nationalism and armed conflict drive arrests, violence, displacement and attacks on churches, according to a new report by Aid to the Church in Need.
The Catholic charity’s Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians Oppressed for their Faith 2024-2026 found that oppression of Christians worsened in 55 percent of the 18 countries it assessed from Aug. 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026.
In Asia, the report identified state repression as a major threat to religious freedom, particularly in China and North Korea, where Christianity can be regarded by authorities as a Western influence that threatens national cohesion.
In China, repression intensified as authorities sought to align religious doctrine with Communist Party principles. ACN cited mass detentions, the jailing of clergy on legal technicalities, church closures and tighter controls on religious content online.
In North Korea, possession of a Bible or participation in Christian worship can lead to arrest. The report said Christians are believed to make up a significant share of the estimated 190,000 people held in prisons or labor camps.
Religious nationalism has also increased pressure on Christian communities.
India recorded more than 700 incidents of anti-Christian violence in 2025, according to the report, which cited Hindutva nationalist rhetoric and increasingly restrictive anti-conversion laws. Incidents included physical assaults, disruption of worship and attempts to destroy churches.
The report said Christians have increasingly been branded “unwanted aliens” in countries where religio-nationalism has fueled violence and the use of legislation against minorities.
In Pakistan, Islamist groups have portrayed religious minorities as a demographic threat, contributing to abuses against Christians, particularly girls and young women subjected to abduction, forced conversion and marriage.
Armed conflict has placed Christian communities under further pressure in Myanmar, where the military has attacked religious sites during the civil war.
The report cited estimates that more than 300 Christian churches or buildings have been attacked by junta forces since the conflict began. Clergy have also been kidnapped or killed.
In February 2025, airstrikes left the Sacred Heart Church in Mindat, Chin State, in ruins less than two weeks after it was chosen as the cathedral of the newly created Diocese of Mindat.
Vietnam presented a more mixed picture. The report cited some positive government gestures but said ethnic Christian groups in the Central and Northern Highlands, including H’Mong and Montagnard communities, continued to face persecution. Unregistered religious groups bore much of the pressure from authorities.
ACN estimated that about 220 million Christians worldwide are directly exposed to persecution.
The report also warned that conflict and religiously motivated violence are forcing Christian communities from their homes.
“Millions of Christians are part of a mass exodus of those displaced in conflict zones, some of it religiously motivated,” the report said. “This has spread, turning entire swathes of countries in Africa and Asia into danger zones.”
ACN said the 18 countries covered are not necessarily the world’s most dangerous places for Christians, but countries where the situation of the faithful was of particular concern during the review period.
The charity said the report is a qualitative assessment based on publicly available information and material from local churches.
