Countries with the highest share of deaths by terrorism 2024

The highest share of deaths from terrorism in 2024 occurred in Burkina Faso, accounting for 20 percent of all deaths. 

Terrorism worldwide

Although terrorism is a worldwide problem, its victims are highly concentrated in certain areas of the world. The areas with the highest number of terrorist attacks in 2024 were the Middle East and North Africa.

In 2014, the rise of Boko Haram alongside Islamic State heavily contributed to the number of terrorist attacks worldwide increasing considerably. However, the number decreased until 2018 before increasing again due to increased terrorist activity in West Africa.

Terrorist activity in unstable countries

Terror attacks such as the bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001, gain the most attention in global media and generally result in increased counter-terrorism efforts at home and abroad. However, the vast majority of attacks occur in the countries where the major terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State are based. The lack of security and order present in places like Iraq and Afghanistan offers more opportunities for terrorist groups to commit more obvious acts of terrorism, including bombing, the second most common form of terrorist attack.