Criminology

Major Findings From the US Annual Global Terrorism Update

The US National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) has released an update to its Global Terrorism Database (GTD).

Among the major findings and trends from the 2015 Global Terrorism Database, as appeared on the START website:

• The total number of terrorist attacks and total deaths due to terrorist attacks worldwide decreased by 12% in 2015, compared to 2014. This was largely due to fewer attacks and deaths in Iraq, Pakistan, and Nigeria.  This represents the first decline in total terrorist attacks and deaths worldwide since 2009.
• In several countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, the Philippines, Syria, and Turkey, terrorist attacks, total deaths due to terrorist attacks, or both increased sharply in 2015.
• Although terrorist attacks took place in nearly 100 countries in 2015, they were heavily concentrated geographically.  More than 50% of all attacks took place in five countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines), and 69% of all deaths due to terrorist attacks took place in five countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria, and Yemen)...