20 January 2010
The Shrinking Costs of War

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Early release of
The Shrinking Costs of War
Part II of the Human Security Report 2009
(Forthcoming)

The Shrinking Costs of War reveals that nationwide death rates actually fall during the course of most of today's armed conflicts.

The study argues that wartime mortality, from disease and malnutrition, as well as war-inflicted injuries, has been driven downwards by:

• Significant changes in the nature of warfare--evident in the 70 percent decline in the number of high-intensity conflicts since the end of the Cold War.
• More than 30 years of highly effective health interventions in poor countries in peacetime--which have cut death tolls from disease during wartime.
• A dramatic increase in the level and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance to people in war zones.

The Shrinking Costs of War also provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the claim that 5.4 million people have died because of the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It demonstrates that the true death toll is far smaller.

Read the full Report.

Read the full Press Release.