Statistics on terrorism fatalities in Western Europe

by Elias Davidsson

On January 15, 2006, I attempted a google search on the following strings:

"statistics on european terrorism"
"statistics on terror in europe"
"statistics on terrorism in europe"
"european statistics on terrorism"
"european statistics on terror"
"terror statistics europe"
"terror statistics in europe"
"terrorism statistics, europe"
"terrorism statistics in europe"
"terror deaths in europe"
"terrorism deaths in europe"
"deaths from terrorism in europe"

None of these strings yielded even a single document. An intensive search yielded finally the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base which contains statistics on terrorism fatalities according to countries, including statistics on terrorism fatalities in European countries. These statistics are presented below.

The European Union has not only declared terrorism as a serious threat to "European security", but initiated numerous far-reaching measures to deal with this allegedly serious threat, including legislation which increases police powers and mass monitoring of the population, thus undermining individual privacy and the liberty on which the respect for privacy is based. Neither the public nor legislatures have been provided with statistics on terrorism in Europe which would help constituents assess the real (as distinguished from the contrived) threat from terrorism. One is entitled to suspect that the failure of publicizing these statistics is based on the fear that public awareness of these figures might undermine public support for the global "war on terror" (the figleaf behind which wars of aggression and various military interventions are hidden).

The fact that the threat emanating from global terrorism is outrageously inflated (between 2,000 - 4,000 die yearly worldwide from terrorist acts, as compared to 50,000-100,000 deaths from snake bites, or 10,000,000 child deaths from preventable causes) should give rise to serious questions regarding the real motives of those who have initiated and currently pursue the "war on terror". Even according to utilitarian views, the deaths of 10 million children a year would deserve the expenditure of at least 1000 times more efforts and funds than to prevent the deaths of 2,000-4,000 people a year. The imbalance in tackling these two scourges tells much about motive.

In a new Fact Sheet from the EU Council Secretariat, Brussels, 9 March 2007, we read: "Terrorism poses a significant threat to the security of Europe...". Here is the proof (which the European Council failed to provide to European citizens):

Terrorism fatalities in Western European countries 2001-2006