The Countries Worst Affected By Terrorism

The number of people killed in terrorist attacks across the world has now fallen for the fifth consecutive year according to the latest edition of the Global Terrorism Index. 13,826 deaths were recorded last year, a 15.5 percent reduction on 2018 and a 59 percent reduction on 2014 when 33,438 people lost their lives.

Even though Afghanistan and Nigeria experienced the largest declines in deaths from terrorism in 2019, they remained the only countries that experienced a death toll of at least 1,000 people. Afghanistan's 5,725 deaths last year accounted for 41 percent of the global total while Nigeria had 1,245 fatalities.

The third-highest death toll was recorded in Burkina Faso which was also the country with the largest increase in deaths last year. This was primarily due to activity from three groups - the Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS), Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and the Burkina Faso branch of Ansar al-Islam - that increased deaths by 507 to reach a total of 593, an increase of 590 percent.