Global terrorism fell in 2025, but Western countries saw a sharp rise, report finds

Global terrorism declined sharply last year, but the threat shifted closer to home for many Western countries, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2026. The report says deaths from terrorism fell 28% in 2025 to 5,582, and attacks dropped nearly 22%, with 81 countries seeing improvements.

Yet it warns that the overall progress masks a more complex and fragmented threat landscape. The index finds the danger is becoming more concentrated in a smaller number of regions while expanding in new ways across the West. In North America and Europe, terrorism-related deaths rose sharply, driven by a series of smaller-scale but more frequent attacks.

The United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom all reported incidents tied to a mix of extremist ideologies, including antisemitism, anti-government beliefs, and other forms of politically motivated violence. In the U.S., incidents increasingly involved individuals acting alone, often radicalized online and targeting civilian spaces.

In Europe, countries such as Germany and France recorded attacks linked both to Islamist extremism and far-right actors, with public gatherings, religious sites, and urban centers among the targets. Across Western countries, the report points to a shift away from large, coordinated networks toward individuals or small groups using simple methods.

That evolution complicates detection and has increased the frequency of lower-casualty incidents. Online ecosystems—where extremist content, conspiracy narratives, and propaganda proliferate—continue to accelerate radicalization timelines, particularly among younger people.

Globally, the Sahel remains the epicenter of terrorism, underscoring how the burden of high-casualty violence is concentrated even as Western societies confront a more dispersed pattern of attacks. The dual reality, the report says, is that terrorism is declining overall while becoming more frequent, more fragmented, and harder to contain across the West.

The findings suggest security agencies face a less predictable threat environment than in previous years, one defined less by large-scale operations and more by persistent, decentralized violence that tests traditional prevention and response strategies.