Nigeria ranked sixth with a score of 7.658, moving up from eighth place in 2023 and 2024 in the latest 2025 Global Terrorism Index report.
According to the report released on Wednesday, March 5, Burkina Faso topped the index with a score of 8.581, followed by Pakistan (8.374), Syria (8.006), Mali (7.907), and Niger (7.776), which ranked second to fifth, respectively.
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) ranked seventh to sixteenth.
The report recorded 565 terrorism-related deaths in Nigeria in 2024, highlighting an increase in fatalities over the past two years.
It also noted that IS-Sahel, primarily active in the Liptako-Gourma region—the tri-border area of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—has extended its activities to Algeria, Benin, and Nigeria. In 2024, the group carried out 16 attacks in Nigeria, 12 in Niger, six in Mali, and one in Burkina Faso.
Additionally, the number of countries affected by at least one terrorist attack increased from 58 to 66, the highest number since 2018
“Globally, deaths from terrorism have declined by almost a third since the peak in 2015, with Iraq and Nigeria recording the largest decreases. Deaths in Nigeria peaked at 2,101 in 2014 before dropping to 392 in 2022, the lowest level since 2011.
However, fatalities increased by 34 percent in 2023 to 533 and further to 565 in 2024.
“Terrorism remains a persistent global threat, with 2024 marking another year of shifting patterns and evolving challenges.
“More countries experienced a deterioration in security, with 45 reporting an increased impact from terrorism, while only 34 saw improvements—the first time in seven years that more nations worsened than improved,” the report stated
