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This time-lapse map shows the spread of terrorism over the past 15 years
(REUTERS/Stringer)
Bomb detection experts and members of the military stand at the scene of an explosion at a police station in Kano, Nigeria, on November 15, 2014, an attack attributed to the terrorist group Boko Haram.
Terrorism isn't a new phenomenon, but the incidence and rate of terror attacks across the globe has quickly escalated over the past decade and a half.
The use of terrorism has not been restricted to a single region on earth, a single organization, or a single ideology. The following video, created by Milan R. Vuckovic based on data from the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database, shows every terrorist attack with more than 20 fatalities between December 1, 2000 and November 13, 2015.
Vuckovic notes that this video is not meant to be used as a definitive guide to every terrorist attack of the last 15 years. Instead, the video shows the general trend of increasing attacks.
The trend that Vuckovic visualizes has been corroborated by the Institute for Economics and Peace's annual Global Terrorism Index. According to the 2015 edition of the Index, terrorism increased by 80% in 2014 compared to the year before.
This sharp escalation in violence killed 32,658 people in 2014, compared to 18,111 in 2013, according to the Index.
The rise in terrorism since 2013 can largely be attributed to two groups: ISIS; and Boko Haram, the Nigerian jihadist group that pledged allegiance to ISIS in March of 2015. Combined, these groups were responsible for 51% of all terrorism-related deaths in 2014.
(Institute for Economics and Peace)
Although terrorism has been increasing, rates of terrorism in the West are still incredibly low compared with other parts of the world. If the September 11th attacks are excluded, CNN notes, only 0.5% of terrorism fatalities since 2000 have occurred in the West.
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