By Ryan Foley, Christian Post.
New data reveals that more than 500 million Christians worldwide face Bible access restrictions, as laws imposed by governments hostile to Christianity and socioeconomic barriers prevent many who would like a Bible from having one.
The Bible Access Initiative released its 2026 Bible Access List Thursday, offering an updated look at Bible access around the world. The report examines 106 countries, identifying both places where Bible access is explicitly restricted and countries where people face socioeconomic barriers that prevent them from obtaining Scripture.
The report found that Afghanistan has the strongest restrictions on Bible access, followed by Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, Eritrea and Mauritania. The Bible Access Initiative classifies all six countries as having “maximum restrictions” on Bible access.
Turkmenistan, Libya, Sudan and Iran round out the top 10 countries with the strongest restrictions. Those four countries, along with Comoros and the Maldives, are categorized as having “extreme restrictions.”
Countries classified as having “severe restrictions” include Algeria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Niger, Burkina Faso, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Morocco, Syria, Bhutan, Azerbaijan, Mali, Oman, Brunei, Myanmar, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Chad, Iraq, Central African Republic, Malaysia, Laos, India, Kuwait, Ethiopia, Cuba, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Mozambique, Bangladesh, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Cameroon, Venezuela, Togo, Turkey, Lebanon, Tanzania, South Sudan, Malawi, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Kenya are identified as having “considerable restrictions.”
Another group of countries, including Nicaragua, Russia, the Ivory Coast, Ukraine, Rwanda, Colombia, Uganda, Senegal, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Benin, Angola, Sierra Leone, Mexico, Burundi and Liberia, are categorized as having “some restrictions.”