Prices are up and wages are down… It’s hard to make a living nowadays!

Ever wonder about kidnappers’ livelihood?

No?

Well I have–and the good folks at the University of Maryland have compiled a Global Terrorism Database to let us find out.

As it turns out, they’re doing much worse than the rest of us. The median ransom paid now is about the same as it was in the 70s! Adjusting for inflation means their ransom incomes have plummeted. Tragic? You decide.