In 2022, 237,000 people died in the world’s armed conflicts – at least.
The figures represent almost a doubling from 2021 and the deadliest year since 1994, a new report shows.
Not since the genocide in Rwanda have so many people died in organized violence. It shows a new one report from the Uppsala Conflict Data Programat Uppsala University.
The number of armed conflicts in the world, where states fight against each other or where at least one state fights against a rebel group, is currently at a historically high level – and leads to large numbers of deaths.
– This large increase occurs despite the fact that 2021’s worst conflicts, Yemen and Afghanistan, were both scaled down significantly during the last year. Instead, violence has increased sharply in Ukraine and Ethiopia, says Shawn Davies, senior analyst at UCDP, in a press release.
Increase of 97 percent
237,000 deaths is a steep upward curve compared to 2021 and a whopping 97 percent increase, according to the report. The fighting in Ukraine and Ethiopia together account for around 180,000 combat-related deaths.
– Many believe that Russia’s war in Ukraine was the bloodiest in 2022, but in fact more people died in Ethiopia, where the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has been fighting the Ethiopian army, supported by Eritrea, since the fall of 2020, says Shawn Davies .
The numbers are also a low count as the deaths from the wars in Ukraine and Ethiopia are expected to increase and will be adjusted as more information becomes available.
55 armed conflicts
UCDP has recorded 55 armed conflicts in 2022. In the years 2000 to 2013, that number was between 31 and 39. From 2015 onwards, that type of conflict has continued to increase and was between 52 and 56 every year.
– Although most conflicts are small, the number of wars in 2022 increased from five to eight. The conflicts that are classified as war are those that cause at least 1,000 battle-related deaths during a year, says Therese Pettersson, project manager at UCDP.
So-called one-sided violence, where civilians are the target, also increased last year. At least 11,800 civilians were killed in this type of targeted violence, carried out by 45 different states or organized groups. The rebel group Islamic State (IS) was the actor that killed the most, UCDP writes in the press release.