Terrorism cost world a record US$52.9b in 2014: report

Singapore

THE cost of terrorism to world economies reached a record US$52.9 billion in 2014, up 61 per cent from the previous year's total of US$32.9 billion, and a 10-fold increase since the Sept 11 attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 2001.

According to the latest annual Global Terrorism Index (GTI) by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which has been collecting data since 1997, the number of lives lost to terrorism increased by 80 per cent in 2014, reaching the highest level ever recorded at 32,658. This compares to 18,111 in 2013. The increase represents the largest yearly increase in deaths ever recorded.