ADVERTISEMENT

Study: Global Terrorism Increased by 80 Percent in 2014

32,658 people killed by global terrorism last year

November 17, 2015

A report released Tuesday indicates that deaths from global terrorism totaled 32,658 in 2014, an 80 percent increase from the previous year.

CNN reported that the Global Terrorism Index report details the "dramatic rise" in terrorism over the last 15 years, particularly spotlighting the spike in deaths caused by terrorist attacks and spread of terrorism that occurred in 2014.

Nine times the number of people killed by terrorists worldwide in 2000 are killed today.

Between 2013 and 2014, the number of countries reporting over 500 deaths due to terrorism rose from five to 11. Still, 78 percent of terrorist attacks last year occurred in five countries, namely Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.

In sum, Islamist groups Boko Haram and the Islamic State were responsible for 51 percent of terrorist killings in 2014 worldwide, the report says.

Excluding the September 11 terror attacks on the United States, only 0.5 percent of deaths by terrorist attacks have occurred in the West since 2000. Of the attacks waged on Western countries in the last decade, the majority have been perpetrated  by "lone wolf" attackers.

The study also notes that the global economic cost of terrorism peaked in 2014 at $52.9 billion, representing a 61 percent increase in cost over 2013.

The report comes as Western nations are under threat from the Islamic State. The group claimed responsibility for the terror attacks in Paris last Friday that killed at least 129 people and wounded upwards of 350. It released a video Monday threatening Paris-like attacks on the U.S. and other Western countries.

Published under: Terrorism