Israel was the eighth most terrorism impacted country in 2024, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace 2025 Global Terrorism Index, which noted that almost a third of Western terrorist attacks were motivated by antisemitic or anti-Israel sentiment.
The Jewish state fell from No. 2 in the think tank’s 2024 terrorism index, with Israel experiencing the greatest decrease in terrorism-related deaths from 2023 to 2024. The IEP report said this is because the previous year was weighted by the October 7 massacre, which was the largest terrorist attack since 9/11 and since the inception of the index in 2007.
The October 7 massacre also resulted in 13% more global terrorism deaths in 2023 than in 2024, but according to the report, when adjusted for the Hamas-led pogrom, 2024 would have been the year with the highest number of recorded deaths since 2017.
There would also have been an 8% increase in global incidents in 2024, if not for an 85% decrease in terrorist activity in Myanmar. The number of countries experiencing at least one terrorist incident increased from 58 to 66, the most impacted in a year since 2018. 2024 also saw 45 countries deteriorate, with only 34 showing an improvement in affliction from terrorism.
Burkina Faso most impacted by terrorism
The IEP assessed that over the last two decades, the epicenter of terrorism has shifted from the Middle East and North Africa to the Sahel region. Burkina Faso was the country most impacted by terrorism for the second consecutive year, followed in the 2024 index by Pakistan, Syria, Mali, and Niger.
Burkina Faso was responsible for a fifth of all global terrorism deaths, though deaths and attacks declined by 21% and 57%, respectively. Niger and Pakistan saw the largest increases in terrorism deaths, with the former seeing a 94% increase and the latter seeing a 45% increase.
The most deadly terrorist attack in 2024 occurred in Niger on July 21, with 237 soldiers slain in Tankademi. The second most deadly attack was the slaughter of 200 civilians in Barsalogho on August 24.
The countries that saw the largest decrease in terrorist activity since 2007 were Iraq, Thailand, and Afghanistan. In Iraq, according to the report, deaths have fallen by 99% since 2007. The largest rises in activity since 2007 occurred in Pakistan, Syria, and Mali.
36% of 2024 attacks not claimed by terror organizations
According to the IEP, 36% of 2024 terrorist attacks were not claimed by an organization. Lone-wolf attacks in the West increased from 32 to 52 in 2024, many of them carried out by youths with no formal terrorism ties. One in five people arrested in Europe for terrorism are minors.
Islamic State and its affiliates remained the deadliest terrorist group in 2024, according to IEP, responsible for 1,805 deaths across 22 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Syria accounted for 708 of ISIS murders.
The 369 attacks in Syria came in the wake of the fall of the Assad regime, which IEP said provided the conditions for terrorist groups to regroup and expand. Islamic State Khorasan Province, which was originally formed to fight the Taliban, has expanded its reach and was responsible for the fourth-most deadly attack in 2024, in which 144 people were murdered in Moscow Oblast on March 22.
Israel was the target of the most foiled publicized ISIS plots, with five stopped in the Jewish state. The US stopped four such attacks in its territory.
ISKP launched a campaign of incitement against Israelis and Jews following the October 7 massacre, according to the IEP, producing a high volume of propaganda urging attacks against Jewish American and European neighborhoods, synagogues, and Israeli embassies and economic interests.
While they didn’t result in deaths, 31% of all terrorism attacks in the West in 2024 were motivated by antisemitic or anti-Israel sentiment. In 2024, the number of antisemitic incidents in the US rose by over 200%, and according to FBI recorded incidents in the two months following the October 7 massacre, anti-Jewish incidents rose by 270%.