Boko Haram overtakes ISIS as world’s deadliest terror organisation

The report stated that terrorism is highly concentrated in just five countries

A report developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace and based on data from the Global Terrorism Database of START, reveals that just two terrorist groups, ISIL and Boko Haram, are now jointly responsible for 51% of all global fatalities from claimed terrorist attacks.

Boko Haram, which pledged its allegiance to ISIL as the Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP) in March 2015, has become the world’s deadliest terrorist group, causing 6,644 deaths compared to ISIL’s 6,073.

The report also stated that terrorism is also highly concentrated in just five countries - Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria - these countries have accounted for 78% of all deaths in 2014.

Iraq continues to be the country most impacted by terrorism, with 3,370 attacks killing 9,929 people. This is the highest number of terrorism incidents and fatalities ever recorded by a single country. Nigeria recorded the largest increase in deaths from terrorism, rising by over 300% to 7,512 fatalities.

However, terrorism spread significantly in the past year. The number of countries that suffered more than500 deaths has more than doubled, increasing from five in 2013 to 11 in 2014.

The new additions were Somalia, Ukraine, Yemen, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Cameroon.

The data, published in the third edition of the Global Terrorism Index, was produced by the Institute for Economic and Peace, and drawn from data collected by the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), collated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.