From a relatively free society to dictatorship: Kyrgyzstan has risen rapidly in the Open Doors rankings

Biskek

No country in Open Doors’ top 50 saw a greater increase than Kyrgyzstan. The Central Asian country was in 61st place last year (the longlist of the organization that monitors the persecution of Christians worldwide has a hundred places). But the country rose 14 places to 47 in the 2025 Christian Persecution Ranking.

Why such a rapid increase? “The cause is mainly a sharp increase in violence against the church,” Jan de Vries analyzes. He is a researcher of the Central Asian region for Open Doors. ‘Because more Muslims are converting to Christianity, there is also more opposition from the mosque, where the mullahs warn against conversion and their Muslim family.’