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Nearly twice as many Christians were killed for their faith in 2013 as in 2012 reports The World Watch List.
The study ranks the 50 countries that are home to the worst treatment of Christians and is issued by Open Doors USA.
The top 10 countries “where Christians faced the most pressure and violence,” according to the WWL, were North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Pakistan, Iran, and Yemen.
While North Korea has topped the list for 12 straight years, this is the first time that a sub-Saharan African country took the No. 2 slot.
“Overall, the 2014 list determines that pressure on Christians increased in 34 countries, decreased in five, and remained about the same in the remaining 14,” World Watch notes.
Open Doors USA said that it had gathered evidence of 2,123 Christians who were killed for their faith in 2013, up from 1,201 such martyrdoms in 2012.
“This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm,” said Frans Veerman, head of research for the organisation.
Veerman explained that the actual numbers could be much higher.
The Open Doors USA report estimated that around 100 million Christians were persecuted for their faith in 2013.
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