Modern Day Pirates: Attack Numbers and Types - Desteia

Modern Day Pirates: Attack Numbers and Types

Pirates are not an ancient phenomenon. We mapped all pirate attacks between 1993 and 2024 to understand their impact on modern trade.

Jose Luis Sabau
May 27, 2024
Macro

Few topics are as prone to misconceptions as modern pirates. Likely, when you think of pirates, your mind will drift back centuries to wooden sail ships plundering government vessels. However, this image is mostly mistaken. Modern pirates continue to roam the seas and threaten imports galore. They remain one of the most important threats to maritime cargo, with almost 13,000 attacks on active vessels in the last 30 years.

Instead of targeting government ships, modern pirates focus on attacking cargo ships, either stealing merchandise or taking over an entire vessel and charging ransom for it. Rather than gold, they are after large shipping containers.

We expanded an existing dataset from the Journal of Open Humanities accounting for all pirate attacks between 1993 and 2020. The data from the International Chamber of Commerce reports any piracy activity worldwide every day, allowing us to track virtually every attack from the last thirty years.

Total Number of Pirate Attacks per Year (1993-2023)

An area graph showing total pirate attacks between 1993 and 2023.

In 2023, the ICC reported 194 attacks in total, down 5.3% from 2022 and 74% from 2010. There has been a steady decrease in piracy since 2010.

Total Number of Pirate Attacks by Type (1993-2023)

An area graph showing total pirate attacks by type between 1993 and 2023.

The geographic distribution of pirate attacks reveals where modern pirates tend to operate. The map below shows all attacks, categorizing if pirates successfully boarded a vessel or attempted to board, and other task categories:

Pirate Attacks by Category (1993-2024)

A map showing individual points for each pirate attack between 1993 and 2024.

A majority of pirate attacks are concentrated in South East Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the Red Sea. However, 46.9% of all pirate attacks occurred in East Asia and the Pacific.

Regions Most Affected by Piracy (1993-2024)

A donut graph showing the regions most affected by piracy between 1993 and 2024.

Piracy tends to follow a pattern, with many attacks occurring once vessels enter international waters, complicating prosecution. The average distance from shore is around 22.2 km.

Average Distance from Shore of Pirate Attacks (1993-2020)

A line graph showing the average distance from shore of pirate attacks each year.

Regarding individual countries, Indonesia has the highest number of recorded pirate attacks, totaling 2,133 since 1993. It is followed by Malaysia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Yemen.

Countries by Number of Pirate Attacks between 1993 and 2024

A bar chart showing the number of pirate attacks by country.

The concentration of piracy amongst these countries can relate to various factors, notably proximity to crucial maritime trade points rather than just poverty. Despite common assumptions, a correlation between GDP per capita and pirate attacks remains statistically insignificant.

Relationship Between GDP per Capita and Count of Pirate Attacks

A scatter plot showing the relationship between pirate attacks and GDP per capita.

The concentration of piracy is usually near strategic maritime choke points. The major areas identified include the Strait of Malacca, the Lombok Makassar Strait, and the South China Sea—accounting for 27% of choked trade, along with the Suez Canal and others representing 14.4% of traffic.

In conclusion, modern pirates remain active and target major trade routes. Though their numbers have slowly decreased, they continue attacking over 100 vessels yearly, reflecting the ongoing nature of this phenomenon.