Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain was ranked the 31st country globally, the ninth on the Arab level and first on the level of Gulf states on the global terrorism index, yet it was rated the least GCC state exporting militants to Iraq and Syria.

In order to accurately account for the number of deaths that occurred in 2015 directly attributable to terrorist attacks, an in-depth statistical analysis was performed by The Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP). This annual report gives us a Global Terrorism Index, by which we can compare the effects of terrorism on different countries, covering 99% of the global population.

This report provides a detailed analysis of the changing trends in terrorism since 2000, for 162 countries. It investigates the changing patterns of terrorism by geographic activity, methods of attack, organisations involved and the national economic and political context.

The index is based on 10 points. The countries that score the lowest points are least exposed to terrorism and those that score the highest are the most exposed to terrorist attacks, such as Syria and Iraq that scored 10.

Bahrain was among the top Gulf states exposed to terrorism, as it scored 4.9 out of 10, followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, while Qatar and Oman still had a rating of "zero," i.e. with no risks of being targeted by terrorist attacks.

According to the report, mirroring the broader increase in terrorism, the economic costs of terrorist activity have also dramatically increased. IEP conservatively estimates the economic cost of terrorism reached its highest ever level in 2014 at US$52.9 billion. This is a 61 per cent increase from the previous year and a ten-fold increase since 2000. 

Arabic Issue