In March 2023 Institute for Economics and Peace published the annual report “Global Terrorism Index 2023” (GTI). When we compare the data with the “Ecological Threat Report 2022” and “The Global Peace Index 2022”, it is clearly visible how security threats radiate and enhance each other: violent conflicts, ecological threats, and terrorism are deeply interconnected.

The epicenter of terrorism shifted in recent years to Sub-Saharan Africa (prior to that, it was South Asia, the most impacted region). The GTI 2023 confirms that Sahel countries are among the states most affected by terrorism. Violent conflict remains a primary driver of terrorism, and 98 percent of terrorism deaths in 2022 occurred in countries in conflict.

Six of the ten countries most impacted by terrorism are among the 25 countries with the worst ecological threats and lowest resilience (“Ecological Threat Report 2022”). Globally 830 million people face food insecurity – 58 percent live in the 20 countries most affected by terrorism. It is essential also to underline that currently, according to World Bank estimates, over 990 million people live in fragile and conflict-affected situations. The numbers are on the rise.

We need systemic solutions at the international level – solutions that would address the root causes underlying terrorism.

“Global Terrorism Index 2023” can be downloaded at: https://www.visionofhumanity.org/maps/global-terrorism-index

Dr Katarzyna Maniszewska, Collegium Civitas International Relations Department, Katarzyna.Maniszewska@civitas.edu.pl, https://twitter.com/KManiszewska

20.04.2023