One-Third of People Arrested for Terror-Related Offenses in the EU Were Less Than 20 Years Old

Nearly one in three suspects arrested for terrorism-related offenses in the European Union in 2024 was a minor or a young adult, according to an annual report published Tuesday.

The finding comes from Europol’s European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2025, which revealed that of the 449 people arrested in 2024 for terrorism-related offenses, 133 were between the ages of 12 and 20. 

Catherine De Bolle, Europol executive director, called the trend of increased youth involvement in terrorism and violent activity a “worrying rise.”

“Terrorist groups target vulnerable individuals, especially those struggling with mental health issues, social isolation, or digital dependency,” De Bolle said in a statement. “These threats are becoming increasingly complex, reminding us that the threat of terrorism within the EU is neither static nor distant.”

Most of the young people arrested for terror-related offenses were connected to jihadist terrorism (114) and right-wing terrorism (12), and were investigated for participating in attacks (57), disseminating and creating propaganda (32), and membership in a terror or violent extremist group (17).

“These young perpetrators were predominantly male, and they most often underwent a process of self-radicalization online and were acting disassociated to any centralized organization, often alone or within small cells of peers,” according to the report.

What’s behind this uptick in young people involved with these ideologies? Europol found that social and psychological factors of vulnerability—like loneliness—social isolation, and mental health problems were significant drivers.

Many profiles associated with young right-wing extremists—mostly minors—showed signs of familial dysfunction, problematic interactions, social exclusion, and other socio-economic challenges, which then served as catalysts for their violent behavior.

“The individuals habitually shared a fascination for weapons and explosives, various violent ideologies, and mass shooters,” Europol found. “The sense of social isolation leads to a ‘lone-wolf’ mentality, with no direct connection to organized groups but still driven by the same underlying psychological problems and grievances.”

These grievances are typically directed at society in a general sense, which the individual sees as oppressive and unresponsive. The Internet then becomes a place to find a sense of belonging where individuals can turn to online connections to create their own communities.

Sometimes these communities lead to radicalization and violent online and in real life actions. Europol identified a growing number of online communities that are actively recruiting minors and young adults to encourage them to perform violent actions against others or themselves.

“The attention toward school shootings rose among minors and young adults, who have been glorifying attacks that happened in other parts of the world and shared information on attackers, their manifestos, and even threatened to commit similar acts,” the report said.

Young people have also been linked to a growing threat of online cult communities (764 and Com), which Europol said use digital platforms to share and normalize cruelty, extort victims, and radicalize people to perform acts of violence. Within the communities, members compete to share increasingly violent content and also groom minors into performing self-harm or violence against their family members or friends. The violent acts are then shared online within the community.

“Many of these violent online groups have been found to have ideological connections with jihadist terrorism, violent right-wing extremism, especially accelerationism, as their leaders advocate for the collapse of democratic societies through terror, chaos, and violence, spreading ideologies that inspire mass shootings, bombings, and other acts of terrorism,” according to the report.

Many of the young people are not attracted to these groups for their jihadist ideology, but instead Europol found they were attracted by online violent content that could even stem from other forms of extremism, like right-wing.

“In some cases, terrorist cells formed around spiritual leadership personalities, allegedly in contact with terrorist organizations abroad,” the report explained.

Magnus Brenner, European commissioner for internal affairs and migration, said in a statement that the Terrorist Content Online Regulation is helping the EU remove terrorist and extremist content from the Internet. The regulation went into effect on 7 June 2022 and requires terrorist content to be taken down within one hour of being identified online. It applies to all online platforms that offer services in the EU.

“We must be particularly vigilant about the radicalization of young people and the exploitation of online platforms by terrorists and extremists,” Brenner said.

Other Trends to Note

The Europol report tracked a total of 58 terror attacks reported by 14 EU member states in 2024. Most of the attacks occurred in Italy (20), followed by France (14); Germany (6); Austria (3); Greece (3); Czechia, Denmark, and Lithuania (2); and Belgium, Ireland, Malta, The Netherlands, Slovakia, and Spain (1).

Of those attacks, 34 were completed, 19 were foiled, and five failed. Europol attributed the attacks to the following threat actors:

Other Trends to Note

The Europol report tracked a total of 58 terror attacks reported by 14 EU member states in 2024. Most of the attacks occurred in Italy (20), followed by France (14); Germany (6); Austria (3); Greece (3); Czechia, Denmark, and Lithuania (2); and Belgium, Ireland, Malta, The Netherlands, Slovakia, and Spain (1).

Of those attacks, 34 were completed, 19 were foiled, and five failed. Europol attributed the attacks to the following threat actors:

The industrial sector was a popular target for threat actors (nine attacks), followed by private businesses and religious entities (five attacks each), and critical infrastructure, political entities, and law enforcement (four attacks each). Arson was the most common attack method (22 attacks), followed by bombings (11), stabbings (eight), and shootings and damage to property (six each).

Social media continues to be central to terrorism strategies because it allows groups to reach a large audience and share instructions for manuals and guidelines—including for making explosives and 3D-printed firearms.

Threat actors are also using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create and share propaganda and hate speech, evading content moderation efforts.

“AI tools, including large language models (LLMs) and deepfake technology enable the creation of persuasive and deceptive content, shared at times in multiple languages and platforms in order to maximize reach,” Europol assessed.

Next Steps

The European Commission is working on releasing a new Counter-Terrorism Agenda to address emerging threats and to take a stronger approach to terrorist financing and anti-radicalization. The agenda is part of the New EU Internal Security Strategy, released in April 2025, which attempts to upgrade the EU’s “capacity to anticipate, prevent, and respond to security threats.”

Brenner said that the new agenda will be released later this year, but did not provide a timeline. The current agenda was released in 2020 and is focused on denying terrorists’ ability to carry out attacks and strengthening resilience against terrorism threats.

Source: ASIS Online