Deaths from terrorism spiked in last year

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2024 has found that deaths from terrorism increased by 22 per cent in the last year.

They are now at their highest level since 2017, although they remain 23 per cent lower than at their peak in 2015.

Excluding the October 7th Hamas attack, deaths would have still been up by five per cent.

Terrorism had been falling or remaining steady for several years prior to 2023, with substantial falls from 2015 to 2019. 

However, the last year saw the largest percentage increase in terrorism since the inception of the GTI, even as total attacks fell considerably.

Whilst the number of deaths increased, the number of incidents fell, with total attacks dropping by 22 per cent in 2023. 

Pakistan recorded the most incidents of any country, with 490 attacks recorded. 

The rise in deaths but fall in number of incidents shows how terrorism is becoming more concentrated and more lethal. 

The number of countries recording a death from terrorism fell to 41, considerably lower than the peak of 57 countries recorded in 2015 and the 44 recorded in 2022.

In 2023, the largest single terrorist attack was the October 7th attack by Hamas-led militants in Israel. This attack killed 1,200 people, and was the largest single terrorist attack since 9/11.

Burkina Faso is now ranked first on the GTI. It is the first time a country other than Afghanistan or Iraq has been top of the index. 

Almost 2,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso from 258 incidents, accounting for nearly a quarter of all terrorist deaths globally. 

There have also been improvements in counter terrorism across the globe. Most notably, Iraq saw a decline of 99 per cent in deaths from terrorism.