A bar chart showing terrorist attacks by method worldwide from 1970 to 2021, with bombing as the most common method, especially in later years.

A bar chart illustrating the number of terrorist attacks globally from 1970 to 2021, categorized by method, showing a significant increase in bombings and other methods after 2000.

Terrorist attacks by method, World, 1970 to 2021 Number of terrorist attacks by the primary method the perpetrators used. 18,000 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2021 Unknown Unarmed assault Infrastructure attack Assassination Hijacking Hostage barricading Hostage kidnapping Armed assault Bombing Our World in Data Data source: National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) (2022) Note: The GTD omits 1993 terrorism data because of a data loss incident and the complexities of retrieving information on events from over 25 years prior. OurWorldinData.org/terrorism | CC BY