Nigeria ranks 6th in global terrorism index with 565 deaths in 2024

Nigeria has been ranked sixth in the 2025 Global Terrorism Index, with a score of 7.658, moving up from its previous position of eighth in 2023 and 2024.

The report, released on March 5, 2025, reveals that Burkina Faso holds the top spot with a score of 8.581, followed by Pakistan (8.374), Syria (8.006), Mali (7.907), and Niger (7.776) in the second to fifth positions.

Other countries that made the top 16 include Somalia (7.614), Israel (7.463), Afghanistan (7.262), Cameroon (6.944), Myanmar (6.929), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.768), Iraq (6.582), India (6.410), Colombia (6.381), and Russia (6.267).

In 2024, Nigeria recorded 565 deaths from terrorism, reflecting an increase in fatalities over the past two years. This marks a significant rise from 533 deaths in 2023, which was a 34 percent increase from the previous year. Deaths from terrorism in Nigeria had previously peaked at 2,101 in 2014 but had decreased significantly in the following years, reaching a low of 392 in 2022.

The report also highlighted the growing influence of IS-Sahel, which has extended its operations beyond the Liptako-Gourma region of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to Algeria, Benin, and Nigeria. In 2024, IS-Sahel carried out 16 attacks in Nigeria, 12 in Niger, six in Mali, and one in Burkina Faso.

Globally, the number of countries affected by terrorism grew from 58 to 66, the highest since 2018. The report noted that, despite a global decline in terrorism-related deaths since the peak in 2015, security conditions have worsened in many countries. Forty-five nations reported an increase in terrorism’s impact, while only 34 experienced improvements—marking the first time in seven years that more countries saw deterioration in security than improvement.

The Sahel region has become the global epicenter of terrorism, accounting for 51 percent of all terrorism-related deaths in 2024. This marks a nearly tenfold increase since 2019. The region also saw its conflict-related deaths surpass 25,000 for the first time since the inception of the index, with 3,885 of those deaths attributed to terrorism.

While Burkina Faso remains the most affected country, both deaths and attacks decreased in 2024, with fatalities dropping by 21 percent and attacks falling by 57 percent. However, the country still accounted for one-fifth of all global terrorism deaths.

Niger, however, saw the largest increase in terrorism-related deaths globally, with a 94 percent rise to 930 fatalities. This reversal in progress highlights the fragility of counterterrorism efforts, with Niger’s situation serving as a reminder that gains in counterterrorism can be temporary, as evidenced by the country’s decline after improvements in 2022.