2017 Terrorism & Political Violence Map

The map findings represent detailed empirical and intelligence-based assessments on terrorism threats and political violence risks. The terror threat map is an example of Risk Advisory’s Terrorism Tracker database, which provides ongoing insight into global terrorist activity.

Global politics in 2017 is likely to be more violent and crisis-prone than 2016; the second consecutive year of deterioration. There is no simple explanation for this, nor are the negative findings universal.

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Key Findings:

• 2016 saw a 14 percent increase in the number of terrorist attacks worldwide, up to 4,151 from 3,633 in 2015. Western countries saw a 174 percent increase in terrorism attacks in 2016, up from 35 attacks in 2015 to 96 attacks in 2016.

• Oil and gas companies were the target of 41 percent of terrorist attacks on commercial interests in 2016 and the trend has continued in 2017.

• Turkey is now classified as being at severe risk from political violence for the first time, due to terrorism, civil unrest, insurgency, armed conflict and coup risks.

Domestic and international risks are interdependent and complex. Efforts by nationalist and populist governments to raise the drawbridges are unlikely to represent a solution. Businesses should not be complacent about their risk exposures, and should take proactive measure to assess, manage and transfer risks.

For the past decade, Risk Advisory and Aon have worked together to set industry standards for assessing and managing violent risks. Despite the dangers, the world is still open for business to those with the right partners.