The GVD database collates data on homicides and direct conflict deaths into a single ‘violent death’ indicator (not including suicides), dating back to 2004.

'Though difficult to fathom as war rages in Ukraine, the years preceding the Russian invasion actually saw a reduction in global lethal violence. According to the latest update of the Small Arms Survey's Global Violent Deaths (GVD) database, loss of life resulting from interpersonal violence decreased substantially between 2016 and 2020. This decline suggests that the world has been making progress towards Target 16.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), under which states committed to 'significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere' by 2030.

Check out this infographic for a snapshot of our 2020 update on global violent deaths (GVD)—on 2018 figures.

More on our GVD database here.

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The year 2018 was characterized by a decrease in lethal violence in several of the world’s hotspots, primarily due to a significant de-escalation of the armed conflicts in Iraq, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Syria. The homicide rate also decreased marginally due to population growth outpacing the nominal increase in killings between 2017 and 2018.

The year 2017 saw the second highest annual rate of global violent deaths in the period 2004–17, according to this Briefing Paper from the Small Arms Survey.

Although Libya's estimated rate of violent deaths is still far below those of Syria and several Central American nations, it remains significant, ranking eighth globally for 2016. This unenviable situation is symptomatic of the ongoing turmoil and instability facing the country since 2011.

Lethal violence claimed 560,000 lives in 2016—more than one person every minute of every day of the year.

Beyond the Battlefield: Towards a Better Assessment of the Human Cost of Armed Conflict, makes a case for stepping up efforts to measure and understand the entire range of conflict-related deaths, particularly among forcibly displaced populations.

Tracking Conflict-Related Deaths – A Preliminary Overview of Monitoring Systems aims to contribute to the development of a standardized methodology for tracking the number of people who are killed in armed conflict. This, in the context of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of which Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 16.1 specifies to ‘[s]ignificantly reduce all forms of violence and related deaths everywhere’.