Annual Report finds over 5 billion lack religious freedom
October 21, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: More than 5 billion people—two-thirds of the world’s population—live in countries that restrict religious freedom, according to an annual report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The ACN report finds serious violations of religious freedom in 62 countries (of 196 studied). Among these countries, ACN classified the restraints on religious freedom in 38 as “discrimination,” while 24 were severe enough to be called “persecution.” The countries where ACN found persecution are heavily clustered in Asia and northern Africa, with only one such country—Nicaragua—in the Western hemisphere.
The report finds that Islamic extremist continues to grow, constituting the main factor in outright persecution in 15 countries and discrimination in 10 more. Sub-Saharan Africa is now the area where jihadist violence is most intense.
However the Western world is not immune from anti-religious violence. ACN detailed almost 1,000 attacks on churches in France, for instance; vandalism of churches also spiked in Greece, Spain, Italy, and the US.
The ACN report noted that authoritarian governments—notably China, Iran, and Nicaragua—have employed high-tech means of restricting religious activities, including surveillance and digital censorship.
ACN found that in only two countries, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka, had restrictions on religious freedom eased during the past year.
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