Terrorism increases worldwide, AON reports

PARIS  – The terrorist attacks in the world increased in 2016 and is expected to increase also in 2017. These are the figures presented by AON, an international insurance study.

The report released on 6 Apr 2017 shows that in 2016, worldwide terrorist attacks increased by 14% over the previous year. In Western countries, there has been an increase of 175%.

In terms of numbers, in 2016 there have been 4151 attacks around the world (compared to 3633 in 2015); in Western countries, the number increased from 35 in 2015 to 96 in 2016.

The AON experts note that despite the big increase, that of Western countries only accounts for 3% of terrorist actions worldwide.

For 2017, the agency projects the countries that will be affected by terrorism: risk factors have increased for at least 19 countries and decreased in only 11. Seventeen remain among those most at risk.

Louis Bollaert, director of AON political risk in France, said that “the scenario is not rosy for 2017 … The accumulated effect of the political, economic and terrorist risks are combined to create a very uncertain climate.”

In addition, the agency notes that the territorial losses of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will lead to the dispersion of the jihadi militias, opening dozens of countries in Europe and Asia up to the risk of terrorism. – AsiaNews/Agencies