From 2007 to 2022, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) suffered from the highest number of terrorist attacks, reaching over 23,000 incidents as of 2022. The region with the second highest number of attacks, South Asia, recorded nearly 18,000 attacks during the same period.
Recent developments
While Afghanistan remains the country most impacted by terrorism in the world, there has been a global shift in the patterns of terrorist attacks since 2019. After the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was defeated, the number of deaths from terrorist attacks in Middle East and North Africa as well as South Asia has been decreasing, whereas it has been increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the Sahel region especially affected.
Someone's terrorist is someone else's freedom fighter
In the Western World, much of the attention on terrorism has been on Islamist groups such as the Islamic State and Al-Qaida since 9/11. In the decades before, attacks conducted by nationalist groups such as ETA in Spain or IRA in Norther Ireland received much attention. While some saw these as brutal terrorists, other saw them as freedom fighters battling for their cause. Debate still exists over the labeling of certain groups fighting for political or religious reasons as terrorist organizations. This debate is reflected in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK, who operate in Iraq and Turkey are considered a terrorist group by NATO and the European Union, but not the United Nations and states such as China and Switzerland.
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition. Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).
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ReliefWeb. (March 14, 2023). Terrorist attacks from 2007 to 2022, by region [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 13, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/489581/terrorist-attacks-by-region/
ReliefWeb. "Terrorist attacks from 2007 to 2022, by region." Chart. March 14, 2023. Statista. Accessed December 13, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/489581/terrorist-attacks-by-region/
ReliefWeb. (2023). Terrorist attacks from 2007 to 2022, by region. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 13, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/489581/terrorist-attacks-by-region/
ReliefWeb. "Terrorist Attacks from 2007 to 2022, by Region." Statista, Statista Inc., 14 Mar 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/489581/terrorist-attacks-by-region/
ReliefWeb, Terrorist attacks from 2007 to 2022, by region Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/489581/terrorist-attacks-by-region/ (last visited December 13, 2024)
Terrorist attacks from 2007 to 2022, by region [Graph], ReliefWeb, March 14, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/489581/terrorist-attacks-by-region/