Afghanistan: The World's Worst Terrorism-Affected Country

The 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report shows that Afghanistan was the country most affected by terrorism in 2019. Its score was 9.592, exceeding Iraq's score of 8.682.

According to the report, terrorism-related deaths in Afghanistan in 2019 reached 5,725, a 22% decrease from the 7,379 recorded in 2018. Afghanistan accounted for 41% of all terrorism-related deaths worldwide.

The Taliban, which now controls the capital Kabul, was the deadliest terrorist group globally in 2019, causing 4,990 deaths. A Taliban attack on the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's intelligence agency, in Maydan Shahr District on January 21, 2019, was the third deadliest terrorist act globally according to the GTI report, resulting in 129 deaths.

Nigeria followed as the third most affected country by terrorism in 2019, with a score of 8.314. Syria and Somalia followed with scores of 7.778 and 7.645 respectively. Indonesia ranked 37th with a score of 4.629.

The GTI uses a scale ranging from 0 to 10. 0 indicates no impact from terrorism, and 10 represents the highest impact.

For information, the GTI is a study analyzing the impact of terrorism in 163 countries, encompassing 99.7% of the world's population. This research was released by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).