A new report on the impact of terrorism around the world deems Romania as among the most threat free places on the planet. Romania came equal bottom in the ranking for 2011, among a group of over 40 countries that experienced zero impact from terrorism last year. Out of the 158 countries studied, Romania was one of 31 that experienced no terrorist impact between 2002 and 2011 and the threat going forward is perceived as very low.

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI), produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, defines terrorist attacks as “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation.” Around the world, in the decade since the 9/11 attacks in New York, deaths from terrorist attacks have increased by 195 percent, incidents by 460 percent and injuries by 224 percent. The report also found that terrorism has affected low income countries less than lower middle income countries.

There have been huge increases in terrorism in countries where military action has been taken. Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have held the three spots for terrorism threat respectively since 2007. “The GTI highlights that many of the countries suffering the most from terrorism have also suffered from foreign military intervention. Although the ‘responsibility to protect’ is paramount, caution needs to be taken against unwanted consequences. I urge policymakers to use the findings of this report to help redefine tackling terrorism strategies and help shift focus towards peace,” said the Executive Chairman of IEP Steve Killelea.

According to the report, terrorism reached something of a peak in 2007 and the levels have subsided since then. This is largely due to the “winding down” of the war in Iraq, the report’s authors believe. The highest placed countries account for the vast majority of terrorism incidents. In 2011, the areas most hit by terrorism were the Middle East, India, Pakistan and Russia. There were 7473 deaths in 2011, which is 25 percent fewer than in 2007.

The report produced a number of other noteworthy statistics, Western Europeans, for example, are 19 times more likely to be killed in a terrorist attack than North Americans. Only 6 percent of deaths in terrorist attacks since 2002 have been terrorists themselves, showing an effective kill ratio from the terrorist’s perspective. Although attacks have fallen off a little since 2007, the report considers the levels of terrorism as unacceptably high and describes the statistics as plateauing at an elevated level in the last three to four year, rather than reducing meaningfully.

See the interactive terrorism world map.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com