Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The epidemiology of international terrorism involving fatal outcomes in developed countries (1994–2003)

European Journal of Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We aimed to describe the public health burden and epidemiology of international terrorism (i.e. involving foreign nationals) with fatal outcomes in developed countries. Data was abstracted from a United States Department of State database for 21 ‘established market economy’ countries and 18 ‘former socialist economies of Europe’ for 1994–2003. To put the findings in a wider context, comparisons were made with WHO data on all homicides for each country. A total of 32 international terrorist attacks causing fatalities were identified over the 10-year period. These resulted in 3299 deaths, giving a crude annual mortality rate of 0.3 per million population. The mortality burden attributable to international terrorism in these countries was 208 times less than that attributable to other homicide. Even for the country with the highest mortality burden from international terrorism (the United States), this ratio was 60. There was no statistically significant trend in the number of attacks over time, but the attack severity (in terms of deaths per attack) was higher in the latter part of the 10-year period. A number of limitations with this data set were identified. If a more rigorous definition of ‘international terrorism’ was used, then this would substantially reduce the total number of such attacks defined in this way. In conclusion, there is a need for better quality data and improved classification systems for describing international terrorism. Nevertheless, the available data indicates that the mortality burden from international terrorism in developed countries is small compared to that from other homicide.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. B Frist (2002) ArticleTitlePublic health and national security: The critical role of increased federal support Health Aff (Millwood) 21 117–130

    Google Scholar 

  2. B Coignard (2001) ArticleTitleMembers of the Eurosurveillance editorial board. Bioterrorism preparedness and response in European public health institutes Euro Surveill 6 159–166 Occurrence Handle11891386

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. S Galea D Vlahov H Resnick (2003) ArticleTitleTrends of probable post-traumatic stress disorder in New York City after the September 11 terrorist attacks Am J Epidemiol 158 514–524 Occurrence Handle12965877

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. LJ Dhooge (2003) ArticleTitleA previously unimaginable risk potential: September 11 and the insurance industry Am Bus Law J 40 687–780

    Google Scholar 

  5. CJL Murray AD Lopez (Eds) (1996) The Global Burden of Disease. Annex Table 1. State or Territories Included in the Global Burden of Disease Study, by Demographic Region. Geneva World Health Organization Switzerland

    Google Scholar 

  6. US Department of State. Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism: Annual Reports (Appendix A Chronologies). http: //dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/arms/PGT_report/ http: //www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/annual_reports.html and http: //www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/ (Accessed 1 October 2004).

  7. BBC. BBC News World Edition. Advanced Search: News http: //news.bbc.co.uk/shared/bsp/search2/advanced/news_ifs.stm” (Accessed 1 October 2004)

  8. World Health Organization. Countries. http: //www.who.int/country/en/ (Accessed 1 October 2004).

  9. Krug EG, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, et al (eds). World report on violence and health. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2002. www.who.int/entity/violence_injury_prevention/ violence/world_report/en/full_en.pdf (Accessed 1 October 2004).

  10. PM Wax CE Becker SC Curry (2003) ArticleTitleUnexpected “gas” casualties in Moscow: A medical toxicology perspective Ann Emerg Med 41 700–705 Occurrence Handle12712038

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The 9/11 Commission Report. Government of the United States of America. June 2004

  12. JL Arnold P Ortenwall ML Birnbaum (2003) ArticleTitleA proposed universal medical and public health definition of terrorism Prehospital Disaster Med 18 47–52 Occurrence Handle15074482

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Whitaker B. The definition of terrorism. Guardian 7 May, 2001. (Accessed 10 July 2004). http: //www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792, 487098,00.html.

  14. United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. Definitions of terrorism. Vienna: United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime; 2004. (Accessed 10 July 2004). http: //www.unodc.org/unodc/terrorism_definitions.html

  15. RN Anderson AM Minino LA Fingerhut (2004) ArticleTitleDeaths: Injuries, 2001 Natl Vital Stat Rep 52 1–86

    Google Scholar 

  16. AB Zwi (2002) ArticleTitleCommentary: Studying political violence: we should push for more from epidemiology Int J Epidemiol 31 585–586 Occurrence Handle12055159

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. E Susser M Susser (2002) ArticleTitleThe aftermath of September 11: What’s an epidemiologist to do? Int J Epidemiol 31 719–721 Occurrence Handle12177008

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. RI Glass (2004) ArticleTitlePerceived threats and real killers Science 304 927 Occurrence Handle15143240

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. DA King (2004) ArticleTitleClimate change science: Adapt, mitigate, or ignore? Science 303 176–177 Occurrence Handle14715997

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. S Wallace C Pritchard (2004) ArticleTitleCoalition-in-Iraq’ countries ‘internal’ civil violent deaths compared to the USA ‘external’ violence of September 11th 2001 Med Sci Monit 10 SR1–SR5 Occurrence Handle15114286

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. A Reza JA Mercy E. Krug (2001) ArticleTitleEpidemiology of violent deaths in the world Inj Prev 7 104–111 Occurrence Handle11428556

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. R Adler J Smith P Fishman E Larson (2004) ArticleTitleTo prevent, react, and rebuild: health research and the prevention of genocide Health Serv Res 39 2027–2051 Occurrence Handle15544643

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. S Shatenstein S Chapman (2002) ArticleTitleThe banality of tobacco deaths Tob Control 11 1–2 Occurrence Handle11891348

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. M Renner (1996) Fighting for Survival: Environmental Decline, Social Conflict, and the New Age of Insecurity WW Norton & Co New York

    Google Scholar 

  25. Committee to Protect Journalists. The Toll: Journalists Killed 1994–2003. http: //www.cpj.org/killed/Ten_Year_Killed/Intro.html (Accessed 8 October 2004)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wilson, N., Thomson, G. The epidemiology of international terrorism involving fatal outcomes in developed countries (1994–2003). Eur J Epidemiol 20, 375–381 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-005-4503-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-005-4503-0

Keywords

Navigation