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New report indicates armed conflict increasingly lethal

Xinhua, May 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

A new report produced by Small Arms Survey revealed on Friday that while violent deaths have decreased between 2007 and 2012, armed conflict has grown more lethal.

According to the report's estimation, 508,000 violent deaths occurred annually between 2007 and 2012, down from 526,000 reported in the 2011 edition for the 2004-2009 period and 540,000 between 2004 and 2007.

While these figures show a promising trend, conflict-related deaths have been on the rise, reaching 70,000 deaths per year for the 2007-2012 period, up from 55,000.

Representing 14 percent of total violent deaths, these conflict killings were largely attributed to recent crises in Libya and Syria, according to the report.

Between 2007 and 2012, around 74 percent of violent deaths worldwide were caused by intentional homicides (377,000 deaths per year on average), 8 percent by unintentional homicides (42,000) and 4 percent by legal intervention killings (19,000).

Figures show that the three most violent countries in 2012 were Syria, Honduras and Venezuela, and that one in four violent deaths occurred in 18 countries that count for only 4 percent of the world's population.

Nearly half of global homicides (44 percent) were caused by firearms, with Central America, the Caribbean and South America registering the biggest share of firearm-related deaths. Endit