Significant increase in deaths linked to terrorism
The New York Times has a story on the latest terrorism statistics. They cite two studies which have researched the statistics for 2013.
Pointing to a geographic imbalance, the report by the nonprofit Institute for Economics and Peace said five countries — Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria — accounted for four-fifths of the almost 18,000 fatalities attributed to terrorism last year. Iraq had the bloodiest record of all, with more than 6,300 fatalities.
This data will not surprise anyone. According to Vision of Humanity’s research these are the raw statistics.
- 17,958 people were killed in terrorist attacks last year, that’s 61% more than the previous year
- 82% of all deaths from terrorist attack occur in just 5 countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria.
- Last year terrorism was dominated by four groups: the Taliban, Boko Haram, ISIL, and al Qa’ida.
- More than 90% of all terrorist attacks occur in countries that have gross human rights violations.
- 40 times more people are killed by homicides than terrorist attacks.
The New York Times also states that in the four years starting in 2007, worldwide attempts to defeat terrorism only managed to achieve ‘modest decreases’.
Vision of Humanity cite the principal causes for terrorism
The three main factors associated with terrorism are state sponsored violence such as extra-judicial killings, group grievances and high levels of criminality. Poverty rates, levels of schools attendance and most economic factors have no association with terrorism. Most terrorist attacks use explosives; since 2000 only 5% were suicide attacks.
It is certain the 2014 terrorism statistics will be even worse.
[UPDATE]: Vision of Humanity uses the following definition of terrorism
The definition of terrorism used by the Global Terrorism Index is: “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation”.