It seems as if every terrorist attack increases threat and danger for every country and for the citizens of Europe.

But has the number of attacks actually been changing over the past years? And is the impact on the different countries similar?

The annual report on terrorism of Europol creates a comprehensive picture of the situation in Europe. However, the values that are used do not depict the extent of the attacks or the alleged crime that has been claimed during the arrest.

While the number of attacks has decreased since 2006 the arrests have been majorly increasing: In 2006, 500 attacks and 700 arrests have been documented, yet in 2015, 200 attacks but more than 1000 arrests have been documented.

Countries in focus of terrorist attacks are France, Spain and Great Britain.

The chart below shows that as against 17 religiously inspired attacks in 2015, there were 692 arrests.

Arrests with the allegation of attacks coming from a religious background make up one third of all arrests and are almost as common as the ones coming from a separatist background.

Nearly three quarters of the attacks actually have a separatist motivation.