Each year, extensive research is completed, using questionnaires, news reports, interviews and country visits, and a point value is given to each country according to the findings.
The research covers persecution of Christians of all denominations in the entire country, and the focus is on persecution for their faith, not for political, economic, social, ethnic or accidental reasons.
The 2012 Open Doors World Watch list has a familiar look to it, with North Korea topping the list for the tenth year in a row. However, it is the Islamic countries that are most prominent on the list, consisting of 9 out of top 10, and 38 out of the top 50.
The largest risers on the 2012 WWL are three countries- Nigeria (#13, up from 23), Egypt (#15, up from 19), and Sudan (#16, up from 35). In all three cases, increased Islamic extremism has been the result of the higher ranking.
Two countries re-entered the WWL - Kazakhstan (#45) and Colombia (#47). The huge central Asian republic elevated itself into the WWL, due to the introduction of a restrictive religion law, which requires the re-registration of all religious communities, and will virtually make youth work illegal and put all religious acts under the watchful eyes of the government.
Dropping off the list this year, for various resons, are Zanzibar Islands (Tanzania), Russia, and Sri Lanka.