Report: Millions of Christians displaced from homes

Aid to the Church in Need’s Persecuted and Forgotten? A report on Christians Oppressed for their Faith 2024-26, released on October 27, found that the situation for Christians has deteriorated in 10 of the 18 countries surveyed, including Nigeria, China and Pakistan.

“Millions of Christians are part of a mass exodus of those displaced in conflict zones, some of it religiously motivated,” the report stated. “This has spread, turning entire swathes of countries in Africa and Asia into danger zones.” 

At least one million Christians have been forced from their home in Nigeria alone, the report stated, and extremist violence is also displacing people in Burkina Faso and Sudan.

The report found that in Burkina Faso militant Islamist groups have seized 40 per cent of the landmass, and in one diocese 2000 people had left in a year.

Persecuted and Forgotten? stated that sub-Saharan Africa is now one of the most dangerous areas in the world to be a Christian. Six of the 10 highest-ranked countries in the Global Terrorism Index are African. It was also noted that Christians in northern Nigeria, the Sahel region and Mozambique have been targeted by extremist groups.

“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?” asked John Pontifex, ACN (UK) head of press and public affairs.

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New report says extremism is forcing Christians from their homes (By Fionn Shiner/CruxNow)