Deaths from terrorism have fallen to 6,701 last year, it is 9% less than in 2021. This represents a drop of 38% from the maximum reached in 2015, when 10,881 deaths were registered. However, terrorist attacks have become deadlier, killing 26% more people per attack. This was revealed on Tuesday by the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), a report prepared by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) that summarizes terrorism trends in the world.

The reduction in the death figures, however, is attributed to the fact that the Taliban are no longer considered a terrorist group and they become a state actor. This index does not include acts of state repression and violence by states. Thus, if Afghanistan is omitted, deaths from terrorism would have increased by 4% in 2022.

The number of terrorist attacks has decreased, for the first time since 2019, 28% ccompared to the previous year, standing at 3,955 attacks compared to 5,463 in 2021. This drop is due, among other factors, to the lower intensity of the conflicts in the Middle East, especially in Iraq, and Afghanistan.

by terrorist groupsdespite reducing its terrorist activity by 16%, the Islamic State (and its affiliates) remains the deadliest globally for the eighth consecutive year with 1,045 deaths and 410 attacks. ISIS is followed by the Somali jihadist group Al Shabaab, with 784 deaths and 315 attacks; the Islam and Muslim Support Group, a Mali-born military and terrorist organization with a Salafi-jihadist ideology, killed 279 people in 77 attacks; and finally, there is the Afghan group Balochistan Liberation Army (233 dead in 30 attacks).

Lower terrorism in the West

After terrorism hit the West hard for years, in 2022 the number of attacks continued with the downward trend that began in 2017. However, last year the number of fatalities did increase. In total, 40 terrorist attacks were recorded, which is 27% less than in 2021 (55). As worldwide, the attacks were more deadly: there were 19 fatalities in 2022 compared to 9 in 2021.

For his part, in Europe there were two attacks which were attributed to Islamist terrorist groups. Among European countries, the UK recorded just four attacks and no deaths in 2022, the first year since 2014 that no fatalities were recorded. Germany, for its part, had the fewest number of attacks since 2015.

“The terrorism for ideological reasons remains the most common type of terrorism in the West, and religiously motivated terrorism has decreased by 95% since its peak in 2016″, they point out in the GTI, with special mention of the attacks committed by extreme right-wing groups.

Anomalous situation in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is the country most affected by terrorism, and it continues to be for the fourth consecutive year. But despite this position, the Asian country recorded 633 deaths from terrorism, its lowest figure since 2007. The report highlights that attacks and deaths fell by 75% and 58%, respectively.

However, this data must be taken with a grain of salt since the GTI does not include acts of state repression and violence by state actorsas we have mentioned above. Therefore, attacks committed by the Taliban are no longer included in the report since they took control of the government in August 2021.

The Sahel, an increase of 2,000% in 15 years

Where the situation is dramatic is in the Sahel. According to the Global Terrorism Index, the region has had a 2,000% increase in deaths by terrorism in the last 15 years (between 2007 and 2022). The outlook is so tragic that this region of sub-Saharan Africa It is currently the epicenter of terrorism. The area “represents more deaths from terrorism in 2022 than South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) combined,” warns the report, which has placed special emphasis on the Sahel.

The GTI details that the factors for this increase “are complex and systematic”, but they highlight the political instability, geopolitical competition, ecological insecurity, abuses by security forces and the growth of transnational Salafi ideology, among others. However, they also point to external reasons such as the withdrawal of French forces from some areas or how the Sahel is becoming a critical scenario for global geopolitical competition between Russia and the West.

The areas of the region where terrorism has increased the most in recent years is Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso and Mali alone have recorded 73% of deaths in the Sahel and 52% of deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.

Burkina Faso is the most affected and in 2022 it was the country that registered the greatest increase in victims of terrorism. 1,135 people died compared to 759 in 2021, 50% more. But the situation in the neighboring countries of the Sahel is also worrying, such as Benin and Togo.

Some relief in troubled areas

Whereas in Middle East and North Africa the “intensity of conflicts” has decreased. Hence, in 2022 there has been a 32% decrease in victims of terrorism. In Syria, for example, attacks fell by 34% and deaths by 10%, with the Islamic State its main threat.

The 50 worst attacks

The worst terrorist attack of 2022 was the one produced in Pakistanin the city of Balochistan, where they died 195 people after a bomb attack carried out by the Balochistan Liberation Army group. The second was carried out in Syria, in the city of Al-Hasaka, whose actor was the Islamic State, where 154 people died. these are the worst two, and those that follow were in Africa, above all, in Mali and Burkina Faso. In fact, of the 50 worst terrorist attacks, 38 were carried out in sub-Saharan Africa and the rest (12) in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.