Global Terrorism Index

…The Institute for Economics and Peace, an Australian nonprofit think tank, …calculates that the worldwide economic cost of terrorism was $52.9 billion in 2014, an all-time peak… After what happened last week in Paris you can bet the cost will go much higher. For instance, how much did it cost to shut down Paris (and Brussels)?

Now in its third year, IEP’s Global Terrorism Index provides a detailed analysis of the changing trends in terrorism across 162 countries over the last 15 years. It investigates the patterns of terrorism by geographic activity, methods of attack, organisations involved, and the national economic and political context.

IEP arrives at the worldwide economic cost of terrorism by adding up property damage along with medical costs and lost income for victims. They do not include the indirect costs of preventing or responding to terrorist acts.

KEY FACTS From the Report

• Deaths from terrorism increased 80% last year to the highest level ever, with 32,658 people killed, compared to 18,111 in 2013.
• Boko Haram and ISIL were jointly responsible for 51% of all claimed global fatalities in 2014.
• 78% of all deaths and 57% of all attacks occurred in just five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.
• Iraq continues to be the country most impacted by terrorism with 9,929 terrorist fatalities the highest ever recorded in a single country.
• Nigeria experienced the largest increase in terrorist activity with 7,512 deaths in 2014, an increase of over 300% since 2013.
• The global economic cost of terrorism reached an all-time peak at US$52.9 billion.
• Since 2000 there have been over 61,000 terrorist attacks, killing more than 140,000 people.
• Thirteen times as many people are killed globally by homicides than die in terrorist attacks.

An excerpt  from John Mauldin’s post Thoughts from the Frontline – The Economic Impact of Evil ‏ follows:

“How much money does the world spend to cope with the mere possibility of terror attacks? The U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s 2014 budget was $7.4 billion. TSA is only one of several agencies focused on terrorism, and the U.S. is only one country.

Think about all the private security guards, construction costs of hardening office buildings, executive and staff time spent dealing with the inevitable headaches and delays, and much more. Pick a very large number. Whatever that number is, you can bet the cost will go much higher after what happened last week. For instance, how much did it cost to shut down Paris for a weekend?”

Go HERE to read more about the Global Terrorism Index

The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP):

• is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive, achievable, and tangible measure of human well-being and progress;
• achieves its goals by:
  • developing new conceptual frameworks to define peacefulness;
  • providing metrics for measuring peace;
  • uncovering the relationships between business, peace and prosperity and
  • promoting a better understanding of the cultural, economic and political factors that create peace.
• has offices in Sydney, New York and Mexico City.
• works with a wide range of partners internationally and collaborates with intergovernmental organizations on measuring and communicating the economic value of peace.
• For more information visit www.economicsandpeace.org)

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