• Belgium: number of foreign terrorist fighters, by stage 2013-2017

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The statistic displays the number of Belgian foreign terrorist fighters from 2013 to 2017, by stage. As of 2017, the total number of Belgian foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) amounted to roughly 600 persons. In 2017, just under half of the total number of jihad fighters were located in Syria or Iraq, whereas there were just over 120 returnees and no persons en route.

Number of Belgian foreign terrorist fighters from 2013 to 2017, by stage

	Number of foreign terrorist fighters
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Release date

February 2018

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Region

Belgium

Survey time period

2013 to 2017

Supplementary notes

The source adds: "According to Belgian authorities, a FTF is a Belgian resident (but not necessarily of Belgian nationality), aged 12 or more, that has joined or attempted to join a terrorist organisation abroad (thus individuals that joined Kurdish militias that are not listed as terrorist groups, for instance, would not be included in the FTF list). A “returnee” is an individual on the FTF list who went to Iraq/Syria and has left the fighting area. By including all residents, but also accounting for underage fighters, Belgium has rather inclusive criteria compared to some other countries. It also started compiling data on FTF in a systematic manner, earlier than any other European country."