Nigeria Fourth In Global Terrorism Index, Reports Largest Death Toll Increase Amid Global Decline

By: Abudu Olalekan

This is the kind of report that makes you stop scrolling.

The 2026 Global Terrorism Index has just been published, and the numbers for Nigeria are about as bad as they could get.

Almost everywhere else in the world, terrorism deaths are falling. Fast. Nigeria is moving in exactly the opposite direction.

According to the report, Nigeria recorded the single largest increase in terror fatalities of any country on earth in 2025. Fatalities rose 46% to 750. ISWAP and Boko Haram were responsible for 80% of all deaths.

Terrorism is also now incredibly concentrated globally. Just under 70% of every single terror death on the planet happened in only five countries. Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger and the DRC.

Only Nigeria and DRC saw meaningful increases last year. Every other country on the top five got better. Nigeria was up 237 deaths. DRC up 102.

That is not a small number.

Nigeria also had two out of the 20 deadliest terrorist attacks anywhere in the world in 2025. Both were in Borno State. Both carried out by ISWAP or Boko Haram.

On the 5th of September last year, gunmen attacked Darajamal village in Bama LGA. They killed 58 villagers and 5 soldiers. The army said they killed 30 attackers in the response afterwards. No group has officially claimed responsibility, but every local source that spoke to Reportersroom attributed it to ISWAP.

Then there was the attack in May. On the 15th, fighters raided the neighbouring villages of Mallam Karamti and Kwatandashi in Kukawa LGA.

They rounded up roughly one hundred civilians and took them into the forest. 57 bodies were later recovered. 70 people are still missing. All sources attribute the attack to Boko Haram’s JAS faction.

For anyone who isn’t familiar, the GTI is published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace. It is the most comprehensive independent study of terrorism there is, covering 163 countries and 99.7% of the world’s population. It uses data from the Terrorism Tracker and other public sources to rank countries from 0 to 10.

Now here is the detail that makes Nigeria’s numbers look even worse.

Globally, terrorism had its best year in almost two decades. Deaths fell 28% to 5,582 total. Incidents fell 22% to 2944. That is the lowest those numbers have been since 2007.

The decline was not universal though. The report noted a very sharp spike in terror deaths in Western countries, which rose 280% to 57, mostly driven by political extremism, antisemitism and Islamophobia.

But that is still nothing compared to Sub Saharan Africa, which is now undisputedly the global epicentre of terrorism. Six out of the ten most affected countries in the world are in this region.

For the first time ever since the index started, Pakistan is now ranked first, recording 1139 deaths. That is their highest number since 2013.

The report also flags a lot of trends that almost no one is reporting on. Youth radicalisation has exploded. Investigations linked to youth terrorism have tripled since 2021. And 93% of all fatal attacks in Western countries are now carried out by lone actors.

Islamic State and its affiliates remain the deadliest terror group on earth, responsible for just under 17% of all attacks in 2025. Other major groups include JNIM, TTP and Al Shabaab.

There is also a very clear new pattern emerging. 76% of all attacks now happen within 100 kilometres of an international border. That number was only 60% back in 2007.

The report ends on a very stark warning. Even though numbers are down globally right now, all of those gains could be reversed extremely quickly. Escalating conflicts, especially in the Middle East, could spread instability and drive a whole new wave of terrorism.

And while 81 countries saw improvements last year, the highest number since 2021, the numbers coming out of Nigeria are a very clear reminder that this problem is not getting better. If anything it is accelerating, right at the time almost every other country is making progress.

The report closes by saying that the sharp rise in countries like Nigeria underscores the urgent need for completely new counter terrorism strategies, and far more consistent international cooperation.