TerrorismOverall number of terrorism deaths falls, but increases in some countries
New edition of the Global Terrorism Index highlights a complex and rapidly changing set of dynamics in global terrorism. While on the one hand the top-line statistics highlight an improvement in the levels of global terrorism, the continued intensification of terrorism in some countries is a cause for serious concern. There was a 10 percent decline from 2014 in the number of terrorism deaths in 2015 resulting in 3,389 fewer people being killed. Iraq and Nigeria together recorded 5,556 fewer deaths and 1,030 fewer attacks than in 2014. However, with a global total of 29,376 deaths, 2015 was still the second deadliest year on record.
The Institute for Economics and Peace has just released the fourth edition of the Global Terrorism Index which provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism over the last sixteen years, covering the period from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2015.
The GTI is based on data from the Global Terrorism Database which is collected and collated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence led by the University of Maryland.
The Global Terrorism Database is considered to be the most comprehensive dataset on terrorist activity globally and has now codified over 150,000 terrorist incidents.
The research presented in the report highlights a complex and rapidly changing set of dynamics in global terrorism. While on the one hand the top-line statistics highlight an improvement in the levels of global terrorism, the continued intensification of terrorism in some countries is a cause for serious concern, and highlights the fluid nature of modern terrorist activity. The complexity of this year’s Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is underscored by the fact that although 76 countries improved their GTI scores compared to 53 countries that worsened, the overall global GTI score deteriorated by 6 percent since last year as many moderately affected countries experienced record levels of terrorism.
The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) says that the 2016 GTI finds there has been a change from the pattern of the previous four years. 2015 saw the total number of deaths decrease by 10 percent, the first decline since 2010. The number of countries recording a death from terrorism also decreased by one. This decline in terrorism deaths is mainly attributed to a weakened Boko Haram and ISIS in both Nigeria and Iraq due to the military operations against them.
However, expanded activities by both of these groups in other countries is posing new threats in other parts of the world. Boko Haram has expanded into Niger, Cameroon, and Chad, increasing the number of people they have killed through terrorism in these three countries by 157 percent. Meanwhile ISIS and its affiliates were active in fifteen new countries, bringing the total number of countries they were active in to twenty-eight. This is largely why a record number of countries recorded their highest levels of terrorism in any year in the past sixteen years.
