Last year marked the third consecutive year the number of terrorist attacks and resulting deaths have decreased worldwide, but global terrorist events remain historically high, according to recent data released by the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)
In 2017, 10,900 terrorist attacks killed more than 26,400 people.
The data examined through START’s Global Terrorism Database (GTD) found that, since 2012, such attacks have fallen by 28 percent, but the deaths caused by them are holding at 71 percent higher. Terrorist violence peaked in 2014 with the onslaught of almost 17,000 attacks and more than 45,000 total deaths.
“While three consecutive years of decreases is encouraging, terrorist violence remains extraordinarily high compared to historical trends,” Erin Miller, GTD program manager, said. “In the decade prior to the September 11th attacks, the frequency and lethality of terrorist violence worldwide each year was less than one-third of what we saw last year.”
ISIL remains the most frequent proponent of terrorist attacks and the most deadly assailant, but their figures are dropping. Iraq, Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan remain the locations with the highest concentration of terrorist violence. The United States endured 65 terrorist attacks in 2017, compared to 64 attacks in 2016. However, U.S. terrorist attacks in 2017 led to the deaths of 91 people – a 49 percent increase compared to victim deaths in 2016.
“Given the inherently political and emotional nature of terrorism, there is no substitute for objective and transparent data as a basis for counterterrorism policy and practice,” William Braniff, START director, said.