Our main site has as section dedicated to the fact that terrorism was a phenomenon long before the 9/11 attacks, but media climate, politics and the psyche of the people have brought terrorism to the forefront. So it is healthy to step back and see whether the risks of terrorism, which most people in the post 9/11 world probably perceive as having grown, actually warrant the state of fear we live under. As per Max Roser’s analysis on Our World in Data, the answer is NO. That is, if you do not live in Iraq – whose population has suffered greatly from the increase of terrorism on their home turf thanks to the war on terrorism.
Max Roser examines some real world risks of terrorism and the odds of being affected by it
Some takeaways:
- Terrorism incidents in Latin America have decreased significantly between 2001 – 2008 (vs 1970 – 2001)
- Iraq has shot up to the top of the list as having suffered the most terrorist attacks
- India has seen an increase in terrorist attacks post 9/11, moving to the second spot
- Global deaths from suicide are 59x those from terrorism; 179x for diarrhea related diseases
- Airline hijackings peaked in the late 1960s to early 1970s
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