Major Terror Attacks 1991-2011

Here's a bit of a preview of Monday's class. Posted below are three charts I designed based on data from the High Casualty Terrorist Bombings (HCTB) data set compiled and hosted by the Center for Systemic Peace.

The HCTB data set is a record of bombing attacks on civilian and political (non-combat) targets that result in fifteen deaths or more. The record runs from March 1991 through March 2012.

Using their data, I demonstrate the increasing rate of terror attacks and deaths from said attacks. The first chart below aggregates the data by year: annual deaths in red (left axis), annual attacks in blue (right axis). Note the spike in 2001 and the peak in 2007.

Click images to enlarge. More charts after the jump.

This next chart disaggregates the death figures by individual date, best viewed when enlarged.

Note well how the bars grow redder through 2007 and start to fade again thereafter. This demonstrates the increase in frequency of attacks. And while the single most deadly terror attack occurred on September 11, 2001, that period was relatively calm in terms of attack frequency.

The final chart explains the increase in attack frequency by breaking out the deaths that occurred solely as a result of bombings in Iraq. We see that the civil war during the US occupation of Iraq was the primary driver of terrorism between 2004 and 2010.

Design by Jesse-Douglas Mathewson, © 2012. Note to anyone who wishes to share these charts elsewhere on the web: the designs are my intellectual property and the data belong to the Center for Systemic Peace. Please cite appropriately.