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WITHIN A SINGLE year the world has experienced a 61% increase in terrorist attacks, according to the 2014 edition of The Global Terrorism Index from the Institute for Economics & Peace.

The index covers 99.6% of the world’s population and ranks 162 countries based on the impact of terrorist activities along with analysis of economic and social factors. The IEP defines terrorism as “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation.”

Here are the key findings from the report:

Iraq breeds the most terrorism along with these four nations

Approximately 17,958 people were killed in terrorist attacks last year, and of those deaths 82% occurred in just 5 nations: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria.

Of the 162 surveyed nations, Iraq holds the deplorable top spot with approximately 2,492 terrorist attacks in 2013,  which killed 6,362 people.

Combined, these nations accounted for nearly 15,000 fatalities. Since 2000 only 5% of these crimes were suicide attacks.

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The four terrorist groups responsible for the most destructive acts are Taliban, Boko Haram, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda. The report notes that radical variants of Islam was “the key commonality for all four groups.” However, the study does not take into account the recent attacks from ISIS since the research tapers off at the end of 2013.

Although terrorism is on the rise, the report notes that the figures are still relatively small when compared to the 437,000 people killed by homicide in 2013. For example, in the US an individual is 64 times more likely to die from a homicide than terrorism.

The overwhelming method of carrying out a terrorist attack was by way of explosives. Since 2000, only 5% of these crimes were suicide attacks.

At risk countries

According to the report, more than 90% of all terrorist attacks occur in countries that have gross human rights violations.

IEP identifies the following 13 countries with a high risk potential of terrorism activity.

These nations either have violent ongoing conflicts or notable social and economic setbacks.

Angola, Bangladesh, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cote D’ Ivory, Ethiopia, Iran, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Uganda.

Causes of ferrorism

From the report, the following are the 3 main factors associated with terrorism:

Greater social hostilities between different ethnic, religious and linguistic groups, lack of intergroup cohesion and high levels of group grievances.

Presence of state sponsored violence such as extrajudicial killings, political terror and gross human rights abuses.

Higher levels of other forms of violence including deaths from organized conflict, likelihood of violent demonstrations, levels of violent crime and perceptions of criminality.

- Amanda Macias

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