In 2013, nearly 18,000 people died as a result of acts of terrorism around the world, according to the 2014 Global Terrorism Index report. It said that the country most affected by attacks last year was Iraq, reports GHN based on DW.
According to the 2014 Global Terrorism Index, published on Tuesday, the number of deaths caused by terrorism increased by 61 percent between 2012 and 2013.
The report by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), a non-profit research organization, which is based in Sydney, Australia, said there were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44 percent increase on the previous year.
Defined by the Index as "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation," acts of terror resulted in 17,958 deaths in 2013.
"Not only is the intensity of terrorism increasing, its breadth is increasing as well," the report said.
Five countries - Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria - accounted for 80 percent of the deaths from terrorism in 2013, but Iraq was the country most affected by terrorism last year. A total of 2,492 terrorist attacks there killed more than 6,300 people.
The report, which examined 162 countries, covering 99.6 percent of the world's population, also found that 66 percent of the deaths were caused by four predominant militant groups: "Islamic State" (IS), al Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Taliban.