The Geography of Terrorism

Nearly 18,000 people died in terrorist attacks in 2013 and more than 80 percent were from five countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria – reports the Global Terrorism Index, based on data from the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database and reported on by Kathy Gilsinan for the Atlantic. The index suggests a 60 percent jump in terrorism deaths over the previous year. “Worldwide, Iraq was the worst-affected country, accounting for 34 percent of terrorism-related fatalities in 2013, with Afghanistan ranked next with 17.3 percent,” Gilsinan reports. “In 2013 specifically, there were 113 terrorism-related deaths in OECD countries – 0.6 percent of the worldwide total. A separate research report by Rand suggests that ethnic and religious tensions and state repression correlate with high levels of terrorism leading to a vicious cycle of violence making it difficult to clearly identify causality." The findings could raise new questions about the best methods for reducing terrorism. – YaleGlobal