Terrorism spread to more countries in 2015

Terrorism-related incidents spread to new states and regions in 2015 even as there was a drop in the number of deaths caused by attacks globally, a new report revealed.

There were 29,376 deaths caused by terrorism last year, a drop of 10 percent and the first fall in four years, as action against Daesh in Iraq and Boko Haram in Nigeria prevented more attacks, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2016.

But there was a huge increase in fatalities in countries that make up the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). Most members of the OECD are wealthy countries such as the United States and European nations.

"While on the one hand the reduction in deaths is positive, the continued intensification of terrorism in some countries and its spread to new ones is a cause for serious concern and underscores the fluid nature of modern terrorist activity," said Steve Killelea, the chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) think-tank, which produced the index.

The report, released on Wednesday, said 21 of the 34 OECD member countries had witnessed at least one attack with most deaths occurring in Turkey and France where coordinated attacks by Daesh gunmen and suicide bombers at the Bataclan music venue, a football stadium and several cafes in Paris last November killed 130 people.

Deaths in OECD countries increased from 77 in 2014 to 577 the following year, more than half of them connected to Daesh.

Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and Turkey all suffered their worst death tolls from terrorism in a single year since 2000, according to the index.

In total, 23 countries registered their highest ever number of terrorism deaths.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria, which accounted for 72 percent of all deaths, were the top five ranked countries in the GTI. The United States ranked 36th, with France 29th, Russia 30th and the United Kingdom 34th.

The global economic impact of terrorism was assessed to be $89.6 billion with Iraq suffering the greatest impact, at 17 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).​