{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]],"date-time":"2025-12-08T17:09:52Z","timestamp":1765213792188,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]],"date-time":"2025-12-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765152000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Sociol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The purview of the current study is to estimate the religious affiliation of Nigerian displaced persons, specifically to assess the number of internally displaced Christians. Although official data sources such as the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) do not disaggregate internally displaced persons (IDPs) by religion, a growing body of evidence indicates that a substantial proportion of these individuals are Christians displaced as a result of religiously motivated violence. Because major displacement datasets lack religious identifiers, this study develops a proxy-based estimation model that infers the religious composition of displacement through patterns of targeted violence. This approach directly addresses the absence of systematic data on the religious affiliation of victims of forced displacement, offering an innovative method to approximate what existing sources cannot measure. Specifically, we apply state-level ratios of religiously targeted killings from the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) to estimate the likely number of displaced Christians in 2023. This study finds that Christian communities in Nigeria experience disproportionate displacement linked to community-targeted violence, with northwestern states Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara showing the highest relative disparities and Borno and Taraba contributing the largest absolute numbers. While these patterns align with known hotspots of insecurity, the analysis relies on modeled relationships between killings and displacement and on proxy data, so the findings should be interpreted as indicative rather than definitive. The study underscores the need for more disaggregated humanitarian data to better understand the role of religious persecution in forced migration.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fsoc.2025.1677251","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]],"date-time":"2025-12-08T17:06:37Z","timestamp":1765213597000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Invisible exodus: toward a methodology for estimating religious displacement in Nigeria"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Dennis P.","family":"Petri","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"John T.","family":"Bainbridge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"76","DOI":"10.37745\/gjahss.2013\/vol11n57686","article-title":"Internally displaced persons in Nigeria: durable solution, assessment and reviews","volume":"11","author":"Adeleye","year":"2023","journal-title":"Glob. J. Arts Hum. Soc. Sci."},{"key":"B2","unstructured":"Coding Religious Repression and Disorder: Outcomes and Critical Reflections from the Acled-Religion Pilot Project.\n          \n          2022"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"The state of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria and implications to national security: northwest and north central in focus\n          \n          1\n          13\n          \n            \n              Babajide\n              F. M.\n            \n            \n              Micheal Sunkanmi\n              O.\n            \n            \n              Bolutife\n              O. L.\n            \n            \n              Joy Iwuoha\n              I.\n            \n            \n              Silas Oduh\n              I.\n            \n          \n          IOSR J. Hum. Soc. Sci.\n          29\n          2024","DOI":"10.9790\/0837-2911020113"},{"key":"B4","volume-title":"Religion and Humanitarianism: Working with Faith-Based Actors in Humanitarian Response.","year":"2022"},{"key":"B5","unstructured":"Understanding IDPs in Nigerian cities. Working Paper No. 36\n          \n          \n            \n              Enobong\n              R.\n            \n            \n              Lawanson\n              T.\n            \n          \n          Researching internal displacement project\n          \n          2023"},{"key":"B6","unstructured":"Nigeria IDP Survey Summary\n          \n          2024"},{"key":"B7","unstructured":"Strategy for Durable Solutions to Internal Displacement in Borno State 2025\u20132027\n          \n          2024"},{"key":"B8","volume-title":"How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of \u201cIntangibles\u201d in Business","author":"Hubbard","year":"2014"},{"key":"B9","volume-title":"Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion.","author":"Hurd","year":"2015"},{"key":"B10","unstructured":"Geneva\n          IDMC\n          Global Report on Internal Displacement 2024.\n          \n          2024"},{"key":"B11","unstructured":"No Road Home: christian IDPs Displaced By Extremist Violence in Nigeria.\n          \n          2024"},{"key":"B12","unstructured":"DTM Nigeria\u2014North West\/North Central Zones Displacement Report.\n          \n          2019"},{"key":"B13","volume-title":"World Christian Database","author":"Johnson","year":"2024"},{"key":"B14","unstructured":"Data and evidence on forced displacement: reflections on progress\n          \n          10\n          15\n          \n            \n              MacLeod\n              E.\n            \n          \n          Forced Migrat. Rev.\n          66\n          2022"},{"key":"B15","unstructured":"Countering the Myth of Religious Indifference in Nigerian Terror (10\/2019\n          \n          2024"},{"key":"B16","unstructured":"Nigeria Media and Advocacy Dossier\u2014World Watch List 2025\n          \n          2025"},{"key":"B17","unstructured":"Petri\n              D. P.\n            \n            \n              Bainbridge\n              J.\n            \n          \n          Canopy Forum, 11 September. Atlanta\n          Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University\n          Violence in Nigeria: Discussion of the Statistical Evidence for the Disproportionate Targeting of Christians.\n          \n          2024"},{"key":"B18","volume-title":"Engaging with Religion in Development and Humanitarian Work: A Framework for Analysis","author":"Tadros","year":"2020"},{"key":"B19","unstructured":"35 Days of Murder Near Kaduna City Still Unreported by Media.\n          \n          2025"},{"key":"B20","unstructured":"Geneva\n          UNHCR\n          Global Trends Report 2023.\n          \n          2024"},{"key":"B21","unstructured":"Africa Subcommittee Chairman Smith Delivers Opening Remarks at Hearing on Religious Persecutions in Nigeria, 13 December.\n          \n          2023"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Sociology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fsoc.2025.1677251\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]],"date-time":"2025-12-08T17:06:40Z","timestamp":1765213600000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fsoc.2025.1677251\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]]},"references-count":21,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fsoc.2025.1677251"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fsoc.2025.1677251","relation":{},"ISSN":["2297-7775"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2297-7775","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,8]]},"article-number":"1677251"}}