Terrorist Attacks Show Biggest Decline in a Decade; But Let's Wait Before Celebrating

The number of terrorist attacks and fatalities has shown its largest decline in more than a decade, according to the U.S. State Department’s latest report on global terrorism.

The report concludes that terrorist attacks declined by 13% and deaths by 14%, following years of striking increases.

While statistics like these are often sensationalized, it is important to take a critical look at what they represent. As is often the case with metrics on complicated phenomena, there are reasons to be encouraged and reasons for concern.