How many died of wars in the 20th and 21st centuries? The simple answer is that it is impossible to know. But these totals from my war database may give a hint of the magnitude of the death toll. Please note that these numbers only includes battle-related deaths (see the new faq for definitions) for the whole period. It does not include "excess" deaths from famine or disease. It partly includes onesided organized violence against civilians (incl. genocides, democides etc.) from 1989-2012 but only some of the major onesided atrocities before 1989.
Please note that the list of wars from which these numbers are aggregated is a work in progress.
Battle deaths, including civilans
Battle deaths, best: 76,193,824
Battle deaths, low: 71,937,721
Battle deaths, high: 116,489,136
Deaths from onesided violence (since 1989)
Onesided violence, best: 3,547,481
Onesided violence, low: 1,358,641
Onesided violence, high: 13,440,023
Battle-deaths in non-state wars (since 1989)
Non-state, best: 117,545
Non-state, low: 109,052
Non-state, high: 163,490
Sum of best estimations above
Total deaths best estimate: 79,858,850
Total deaths high estimate: 140,000,000
Many insiders estimate this figure to be between 200 and 300 million.
Press:
No end in sight: Global Military Spending Reaches $2.7 Trillion in Record 2024 Increase
Some current perspective from Jeffery Sachs
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