Global Terrorism Index reveals how Britain has been affected by terrorist atrocities – and we’re just one level below Somalia and Egypt

A SINISTER new map has revealed the impact terrorism has had on each country around the world.

Created by the University of New South Wales, the map is part of the annual  produced by Australian think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

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IEP founder Steve Killelea told 2016’s Index — which covers 2015 — showed the “fluid nature of terrorism” which was increasingly having far more of an impact in western nations where deaths from atrocities increased six times over past year.

On the map, the countries most severely affected by terrorism related to death and injury, places like Iraq and Nigeria are a deep brown in colour.

Those with no deaths, including Vietnam and Poland, are green.

The Index ranks Britain - coloured in a light orange - at number 34. 130 territories were included in the research.

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The United Kingdom is less affected by terrorism than Somalia, Egypt, Palestine and France, but had more terrorist-related incidents last year than United States, Tunisia, Algeria and Greece.

During 2015, three people were stabbed at Leytonstone tube station in east London, with one person suffering severe knife injuries.

Video footage emerged following the stabbing of the attacker repeatedly shouting “this is for Syria”, in reference to the Royal Air Force’s bombing of Islamic State in Syria, which had commenced on December 3 after parliamentary approval.

While global terrorism deaths have dropped overall, in the 35 OECD nations — mainly Western nations including much of Europe and North America as well as Australia — incidents have spiked a massive 650 per cent in just one year.

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“This year’s index paints a complex picture which shows terrorism is changing quickly,” said Mr Killelea.

“The good news is the number of deaths through terrorism is down 10 per cent and of those falls 32 per cent have been recorded in Iraq and Nigeria.

“The bad news is that while (terrorist groups) Boko Haram and Islamic State have been depleted in their core areas of operation (due to military action), they’ve moved to other areas so Boko Haram expanded into Niger and Cameroon while IS and its affiliates moved from operating in 13 countries to 28 countries,” he said.

In 2015, 29,376 people died in terrorist related incidents down from 32,765 in 2014.

Nevertheless, 2015 was the second deadliest year for terrorist incidents ever recorded.

In 2015, four groups were responsible for 74 per cent of all deaths from terrorism: Islamic State, Boko Haram, the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

In 2015, IS overtook Nigeria’s Boko Haram as the most dangerous terrorist group killing 6141 people.

Al-Qaeda had a 17 per cent drop in the number of deaths to 1620 but the Taliban death toll went up 29 per cent to 4502.

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The countries most prone to terrorist attacks were Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.

The single deadliest atrocity of 2015 was the April attack by Islamic State on the Iraqi town of Qaim where 300 civilians were executed.

In the West the picture was grim. Between 2014 and 2015, deaths in OECD nations jumped from 77 to 577 — half of this caused by ISIS.

The most lethal attacks were the Bataclan Theatre attacks in Paris and suicide bombings in Turkey, the latter of which killed more than 300 people.

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In the West, only 2001, the year of the September 11 attacks in New York, was more lethal.

During that year, most deaths were concentrated in one attack, today they are spread across several smaller incidents which are harder to detect beforehand.

“If we remove 9/11, in those 16 years 2015 was the worst year on record and the number of attacks reflects an upward trend that has been going on for seven years,” said Mr Killelea.

The global economic impact of terrorism reached $122billion (£98billion) in 2015.

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The index provides a rank for terrorism impact in each country based on number of factors including terrorist incidents, deaths, injuries and property damage.

Incidents in previous years, such as 2014’s Sydney Lindt Cafe siege, also play a role in the rankings due to the ongoing mental and economic impact such as a downturn in tourism following an attack.

New Zealand is at a comfortable 112th, safer than Switzerland even.

The UK and US are far more impacted, both in the 30s, while France’s recent horrific encounters with terrorism has seen it rise to 29th in the table.

In October, Britain’s security services and counter-terrorism units revealed they have foiled at least 10 attacks in the past two years.

It also emerged that authorities are dealing with about 550 “live” cases at any one times.

Neil Basu, the deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and new senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing commented: “Despite all of our essential prevention work, it is a sad fact that terrorist attacks can and do happen.

“But if the worst were to take place we are ready, both to respond with maximum effect and to recover.”

The research also highlights the countries where terrorism is essentially non-existent. According to the index, 34 countries were completely terrorism free in 2015.

Many are less developed, such as East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Cuba.

The Global Terrorism Index will be launched at a public event, ‘Unlocking the Global Terrorism Index’ at 5pm on Tuesday 22 November at the University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney.