Conflict trends: A global overview, 1946–2025

The report finds that 2025 was the third most violent year since 1989, with 245,000 battle-related deaths. It highlights a record high of 65 state-based conflicts and a concerning doubling of international conflicts to eight in 2025. While non-state conflicts decreased slightly, one-sided violence surged to 76,500 fatalities, primarily driven by massacres in Sudan.

• In 2025, total battle-related deaths reached approximately 245,000, making it the third most violent year since 1989. This level of violence was primarily driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the bombardments of Gaza, and political violence in Sudan, specifically the massacre in El Fasher.
• The number of state-based conflicts reached an all-time high of 65 in 2025 across 35 countries. There is a growing trend of conflict complexity, where individual countries host multiple simultaneous conflicts; for example, Myanmar had five civil conflicts and Israel had two civil and three international conflicts in 2025.
• Interstate conflicts have increased substantially, doubling from four in 2024 to eight in 2025, the highest number recorded since 1946. These are categorized as border conflicts (e.g., India and Pakistan), regional escalatory conflicts in the Middle East, and invasions (Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's invasion of Syria).
• One-sided violence against civilians saw a dramatic increase from 14,200 fatalities in 2024 to 76,500 in 2025, the highest since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This surge was largely due to the RSF takeover of El Fasher in Sudan, where approximately 60,000 people were killed in the last week of October 2025.
• Non-state conflicts decreased slightly from 79 in 2024 to 75 in 2025, with battle-related deaths falling to approximately 14,500. This decline was partly due to reduced lethal violence between drug cartels in Mexico, although other forms of violence like extortion and abductions increased.
• Regional analysis shows Africa as the most affected area, with the number of state-based conflicts nearly doubling from 15 in 2013 to 29 in 2025. Other notable regional trends include a record high of 13 conflicts in the Middle East and a surge in violence in Haiti, where battle deaths rose from 200 in 2024 to over 1,200 in 2025.

APA

Rustad, S. A. (n.d.). Conflict trends: A global overview, 1946–2025. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6f3c619f-6267-4d6b-be19-7bb16dfad782/Conflict trends A global overview 1946-2025 - PRIO Paper 2026.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Rustad, Siri Aas. Conflict trends: A global overview, 1946–2025. Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6f3c619f-6267-4d6b-be19-7bb16dfad782/Conflict trends A global overview 1946-2025 - PRIO Paper 2026.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{rustadndconflict, author = {Rustad, Siri Aas}, title = {{Conflict trends: A global overview, 1946–2025}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6f3c619f-6267-4d6b-be19-7bb16dfad782/Conflict trends A global overview 1946-2025 - PRIO Paper 2026.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }