Chapter 5: Measuring terrorism with the global terrorism index

This aim of this chapter is to outline the rationale and methodology behind the development of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), a composite index which attempts to measure the unobserved latent impact of terrorism across 158 countries covering over 99% of the world’s population.

The GTI attempts to capture the multidimensional direct impact of terrorist related violence, in terms of its physical effect, as well as emotional wounds and fear, by attributing a single-weighted average national level score. It is based on the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). This chapter also details selection of the indicators, weighting methodology and method of normalisation.

The GTI aims to be a reference point from which one can further discuss how researchers and the general public collectively define, interpret and contextualise the social, political and economic impact of terrorism.

Certain issues related to the data remain intractable (e.g., missing injury data in the GTD and property damage). The chapter also suggests a number of areas in which the basic index design could be expanded upon.

By presenting the GTI the chapter provides a relative measure of terrorism. Its value rests in the possibility to compare the impact of terrorism between countries and scores, analyse trends over the time and assess the aggregate global impact of terrorism.