GTD: Global Terrorism Database

Information on more than 200,000 Terrorist Attacks

The Global Terrorism Database™ (GTD) is an open-source database including information on terrorist events around the world from 1970 through 2020 (with annual updates planned for the future). Unlike many other event databases, the GTD includes systematic data on domestic as well as international terrorist incidents that have occurred during this time period and now includes more than 200,000 cases. Learn more

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GTD DATA VISUALIZATIONS

GTD WebGL Globe

The updated GTD WebGL Globe is an interactive geographic visualization, currently in beta, that plots the location and frequency of yearly terrorist attacks worldwide from 1970-2014. It was developed by START using the WebGL Globe open platform created by the Google Data Arts Team. Automated geocoding from the OpenCage Geocoder supplements the geocoding available in the public dataset.

GTD 2020: Heatmap

Our updated 2020 GTD Heat Map shows the geographic concentration and intensity of terrorist attacks that occurred worldwide in 2020. Note that intensity is calculated based on the number or people killed or injured in each attack.

View GTD heatmap visualizations from previous years

A World of Terror

Periscopic, a data visualization firm that promotes information transparency and public awareness, has produced an innovative, interactive tool that allows users to explore the impact and dynamics of GTD perpetrator groups. A World of Terror examines the 25 perpetrators that were most active between 1970 and 2013, visualizing their attack patterns across multiple dimensions including life span, recency, casualties, and geographic spread.

GTD Data Rivers 2.0

The GTD Data Rivers 2.0 application is an interactive visualization tool that allows users to explore patterns of terrorism in the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). The GTD Data Rivers aggregates information from the database and displays relative temporal trends as a stack chart.