Terrorist attacks have declined globally for the fourth consecutive year while in the United States they have reached their highest level since 1982, according to a report from the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).
The drop in global attacks is attributed to multiple factors including fewer mass-casualty attacks in Western Europe and a steep decline in ISIS attacks in Iraq, while the increase of terrorism in the United States is attributed to far-right wing attacks.
Last year, there were more than 9,600 terrorist attacks killing more than 22,980 people. In the United States, there were 67 attacks.
START maintains a Global Terrorism Database that includes data on more than 190,000 terrorist attacks since 1970.
“It’s always interesting to see how diverse patterns are from place to place,” Dr. Erin Miller, author of the report and manager of the database, said. “We have data on terrorist violence worldwide, but remember that every place is unique, with complex and varied contexts and developments that extend beyond terrorist violence. This analysis just scratches the surface.”
Terrorist attacks peaked in 2014 with nearly 17,000 attacks globally and more than 45,000 deaths. Between 2013 and 2017, Iraq had more terrorist attacks than any other nation.