Nigeria: deaths caused by political instability

In Nigeria, political, economic, and social grievances are causing violence and deaths. Several militant groups are active in the country, leading to attacks on both civilian and military targets. Boko Haram is the deadliest terrorist group, an affiliate of the Islamic State. Confrontations between Boko Haram and the Nigerian State provoked over 22.9 thousand deaths between 2011 and 2023. Nigeria is the country most affected by the terrorist group's attacks. However, Boko Haram is responsible for thousands of deaths in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. The Nigerian State of Borno is by far the most threatened state, in that, Boko Haram has caused around 34 thousand deaths in this area. Among the news on attacks mostly present in the media, the kidnapping of 276 female students from a secondary school in Borno in 2014 received a global response. As of April 2021, over 100 girls were still missing, and six students were believed to have died.

Number of violent deaths caused by political instability and citizen alienation in Nigeria between 2011 and 2023, by perpetrator

Characteristic	Number of deaths
Boko Haram, state actor	22,910
Boko Haram	19,536
State actor	17,071
Other armed actor	14,836
Sectarian actor	13,509

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Release date

July 2023

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Region

Nigeria

Survey time period

May 2011 to July 2023

Supplementary notes

The source does not specify a publication date. The release date is therefore the date the data was accessed.
The source specifies: "These graphs depict countrywide deaths broken down by perpetrator. These include Boko Haram, state security services, and sectarian groups (excluding Boko Haram). To avoid double counting deaths, the NST distinguishes between incidents in which one perpetrator is involved and in which more than one perpetrator is involved. As a result, deaths of Boko Haram and State Actors are combined for the category "Boko Haram, State Actor," which corresponds to incidents where there was a clash. These five groups represent the majority of deaths documented by the NST. There are additional deaths included in the overall NST count, displayed in graph 1, that are not reflected here."

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