A Realistic Look at Terrorism

Conflicts in the Middle East have lessened in intensity, the Islamic State is losing control, and countries have upped their counterterrorism measures.

According to The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), terrorism has continued to decline since its alarming peak in 2014, when the Islamic State and other extremist groups such as Boko Haram rose in power. Because of the increasing accessibility to global news, it might seem like there hasn’t been much improvement. But we want to paint a picture of what’s improved over recent years, why you can be hopeful, and how you can help corners of the globe most affected by terrorist violence.

Deaths from terrorism have fallen for the third consecutive year, mirroring a decline in terrorist attacks over the same period. This isn’t to say terrorism isn’t still a problem — deaths are substantially higher than they were a decade ago and three times as high as 2001. Nearly 70 countries experienced at least one death related to terrorism in 2017.

But terrorism isn’t taking over the world. Though there was a surge of terrorist attacks in recent years, most attacks still occur in the Middle East and Africa, and even those regions saw decline in 2017. The number of victims in that year dropped by 44 percent.