[extropy-chat] Human Security Report: Sharp decline in number of wars, deaths from war, genocide

[Damien Sullivan]

>    * The number of armed conflicts around the world has declined by more
>    than 40% since the early 1990s

The number of conflicts is 30, about the same as 1976, and higher than almost
any year before that going back to 1948.  The current trend is declining but
still a high medium.  Graph stops at 2002.

Most of the conflicts are intrastate, not interstate.

The number of "international crises" looks quite low -- but stops at 2000.

>    * The average number of deaths per conflict fell 98% between 1950 and
>    2002 (from 38,000 deaths to 600 deaths)

This is quite low now, but not much lower than in 1956.  Though as they point
out there are more people now.

Death/population for 1990-1997 is comparable to 1950-1959, both being low ends
of a hill.

>    * The number of genocides and politicides fell by 80% between 1988 and
>    2001

Ah, this was events, not deaths.  No one was systematically counting deaths,
they say.  They note that in Rwanda 1000 were killed in the war, but 800,000
in the genocide.

-xx- Damien X-)