The economic impact of terrorism on the global economy costs tens of billions of dollars. Forbes pegged the impact at $90 billion and rising in November 2016. The Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) has identified over 150,000 terrorist events in its Global Terrorism Index (GTI), and finds that while the number of attacks are dropping in some countries, they are increasing at alarming numbers in others.
As terror groups like ISIL change their tactics, the number of lone terror attacks has surged to its highest number ever. According to the IEP GTI, 98 percent of the terror-related deaths in the U.S. since 2008 have been carried out by individuals acting on their own. Fortunately, there are several similarities and statistical patterns to individual terrorist attacks, which provide some insight into creating effective counterterrorism operations.
The financial impact of terrorism primarily affects a country's gross domestic product (GDP), which is frequently an indicator to how well a country is doing (or not). Iraq experiences the highest economic impact from terrorism, which reached 17 percent of its GDP according to the IEP. Terrorism affects business operations, tourism, manufacturing and other key industries.
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Patricia L. Harman
Patricia L. Harman is the editor-in-chief of Claims magazine, a contributing editor to PropertyCasualty360.com, and chairs the annual America's Claims Event (ACE), which focuses on providing claims professionals with cutting-edge education and networking opportunities. She covers auto, property & casualty, workers' compensation, fraud, risk and cybersecurity, and is a frequent speaker at insurance industry events. Contact her at [email protected]
