Which countries have the fewest worship places in 2025? 

Title: Countries With the Fewest Places of Worship in 2025 — Why they have so few and a ranked list
Meta description: Looking for countries with the fewest churches, mosques, temples or other worship sites in 2025? This data-driven guide explains the methodology, highlights states with very few worship places, and gives a ranked list with context and sources.

There is no single global database that counts “places of worship” by country in real time. Using two reasonable approaches — (A) absolute counts tied to very small-population states, and (B) countries where restrictions, legal bans or state control make public worship places extremely scarce — the countries most likely to have the fewest worship buildings in 2025 include several microstates (Vatican City, Nauru, Tuvalu, Pitcairn, etc.) and a handful of states with heavy restrictions on religion (notably North Korea, Maldives, Bhutan and, in practical terms, some Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia). Below you’ll find the full explanation, the list and why each country is here.

Why this is tricky (methodology)

Counting “places of worship” (churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, gurdwaras, shrines, etc.) across 195+ countries is conceptually simple but practically near-impossible for three reasons:

1. No universal registry: Nations do not report standardised counts of worship buildings to a central body (UN, World Bank).

2. Different definitions: What counts as a “place of worship”? A dedicated building, a multi-use hall, an embassy chapel, or an informal house church? Different countries treat these differently.

3. Hidden or informal worship: In countries with repression, congregations meet underground or in private homes, so official counts understate reality. Reports from human-rights groups are essential to understand the on-the-ground picture.

Because of these limits, this article uses two complementary lenses:

• Absolute-size lens: Very small countries tend to have fewer buildings simply because they have few people and little land. (Good proxy for absolute counts.)

• Restriction lens: Countries where law or repression limits public worship — they may have zero or very few legal worship buildings despite larger populations.

Both lenses are relevant to the user who asked “fewest worship places” — one shows where the absolute numbers are small, the other shows where worship is effectively absent.

List A — Microstates and tiny territories (few absolute worship buildings)

These countries and territories are among the world’s smallest by population and area; they therefore tend to have only a handful of formal worship sites (or a single parish / chapel). This is the absolute-count list (not ranked by exact building count — such precise counts rarely exist publicly):

1. Vatican City — extremely small population and area; home to St. Peter’s Basilica and other chapels but only a very small number of distinct worship sites because the whole state is essentially a religious enclave.

2. Nauru — tiny population and island area; a few churches but very few worship buildings overall.

3. Tuvalu — small population across remote atolls; limited number of churches and congregational buildings.

4. Pitcairn Islands — extremely small population (dozens); only one or two public buildings, including a chapel.

5. Monaco — tiny territory with a small number of churches and chapels.

6. San Marino — small population, small total number of parish churches.

7. Liechtenstein — small nation, handful of churches.

8. Marshall Islands / Palau / Micronesian islands — small populations spread across many atolls; worship buildings exist, but totals are low vs. larger countries.

Why include microstates? If you ask “where are the fewest worship places?” and interpret “fewest” literally as absolute number, these microstates and territories top the list simply because they have very few buildings of any kind.

List B — Countries where worship places are extremely scarce because of restriction or repression

Here we list countries where public worship places are legally restricted, state-controlled, or effectively non-existent — i.e., places of worship are scarce not because of small population, but because of policy or repression.

1. North Korea (DPRK) — genuine, freely functioning churches for the population are basically absent. The regime maintains a tiny number of state-run “churches” in Pyongyang largely for propaganda and tourists; independent worship is prohibited and prosecuted. Open Doors and other monitoring groups place North Korea at the very top of the list of countries where church life is effectively non-existent.

2. Maldives — the constitution and laws effectively prohibit non-Islamic public worship and building non-Islamic places of worship; human-rights reports note there are no legal churches in the country.

3. Bhutan — while a small Christian minority exists, churches are not recognised or allowed to register; worship often happens in homes and in legal grey areas, so official counts of worship buildings are effectively zero or tiny.

4. Saudi Arabia (practical absence of public churches) — historically no public churches for non-Muslims have been permitted; while social reforms have introduced limited engagement with other faith leaders, publicly-recognized churches have not been part of the legal landscape in modern Saudi governance. (Reporting and historical records indicate near-zero public non-Muslim houses of worship.)

5. Other restricted contexts — in some countries with intense conflict or legal restrictions (e.g., parts of Afghanistan under Taliban control, areas of Somalia or Yemen affected by violence, or certain authoritarian states), many worship buildings have been destroyed or closed, or public worship is impossible in practice. Reports from human-rights organisations document destruction, closures and extreme danger for worshippers.

Important nuance: A country like Saudi Arabia may have many thousands of mosques (so worship is not absent for the majority religion) but no public non-Muslim houses of worship — that’s why it appears on lists of countries with “few churches.” North Korea’s case is different: the entire public practice of many faiths is suppressed.

Short profiles — why these countries have so few places of worship

• Microstates (Vatican, Nauru, Tuvalu, Pitcairn): small population + limited urban infrastructure = few buildings overall. Vatican City is exceptional because it is a religious state — many important worship sites exist, but the state is tiny so the absolute building count is naturally small compared with larger countries.

• Repressive states (North Korea): law and enforcement criminalise independent religious practice; only tightly controlled show-churches exist, mostly for foreign visitors. NGOs and freedom-of-religion monitors regularly note the absence of genuine worship life.

• Religious-homogeneity with legal bans (Maldives, Bhutan, some Gulf states): constitutional or statutory rules reserve public life for the state religion and disallow building non-state worship houses. This leaves non-state believers to worship privately or not at all.

• Conflict zones: attacks on religious buildings, forced displacement and the destruction of temples/churches during war reduce the number of functioning worship sites dramatically (examples: parts of Myanmar, parts of Syria, etc.). Humanitarian and rights reporting documents these losses.

How to interpret the list (practical tips for readers & content users)

• If you need absolute counts of buildings (e.g., for mapping or planning a visit), contact national statistical offices, religious organisations or local dioceses — they are the only bodies likely to have building inventories.

• If your question is about religious freedom / whether worship is possible, consult annual freedom/ persecution reports (Open Doors, USCIRF, U.S. State Department IRF reports) — they explain legal status and practical realities.

Quick ranked recap (compact)

Fewest worship places — absolute / tiny states: Vatican City; Pitcairn Islands; Nauru; Tuvalu; Monaco; San Marino; Liechtenstein; Niue; Tokelau; Marshall Islands.

Fewest worship places — scarcity due to law/repression: North Korea; Maldives; Bhutan; (practical absence of public non-Muslim houses of worship in) Saudi Arabia; and conflict zones where worship buildings were destroyed (parts of Myanmar, Yemen, Somalia).