Deaths in Organized Violence
The academic standard for counting war deaths: the Uppsala Conflict Data Program's best-estimate fatalities in organized violence worldwide since 1989, split into state-based conflict, non-state conflict between organized groups, and one-sided violence against civilians. The series holds the whole post-Cold War arc — Rwanda towering over 1994, the hopeful decline of the 2000s, Syria's plateau, and the 2020s resurgence driven by Ukraine, Ethiopia, Gaza, and Sudan. It pairs with the displacement chart: the deaths and the flight are one story counted two ways.
What does it show?
Uppsala's count of deaths in organized violence since 1989 holds the whole arc: Rwanda's 1994 spike, the post-Cold War decline, the Syria years, and a 2020s resurgence that peaked near 317 thousand deaths in 2022. The latest year recorded about 245 thousand.
Methodology
Annual best-estimate fatalities from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program's three category datasets: state-based conflict (battle-related deaths where at least one party is a government), non-state conflict (organized groups fighting each other), and one-sided violence (deliberate attacks on civilians). Categories follow UCDP definitions and sum across all conflicts worldwide; best estimates are conservative relative to high estimates. Rwanda's 1994 genocide dominates the one-sided series. Data updates annually with each UCDP release.