If you look at nearly any newspaper, then you’ll see something about a conflict. It might be a small story, but it seems like battles occur everyday. While world peace is a high ideal that people would love to be a reality, it just doesn’t seem obtainable. The truth is that international battles have almost stopped, civil wars are decreasing and the total number of worldwide deaths caused by conflicts has significantly dropped.

Average War

How many people die in an average war? If you look at statistics from the 1950s, then you would see that most wars cause about 10,000 deaths. In fact, nearly 600,000 people died due to conflicts in 1950.

What about modern wars? The typical conflict or war now causes less than 1,000 deaths. Not only that, but only about 30,000 people died from conflicts in 2010. The likelihood of someone dying during a conflict has also decreased. For example, about one person for every 566,000 died during conflict in 2005.

International Wars

International wars are often the worst. Not only do they cause the most death and suffering, but they are difficult to stop unless one side gives up or is annihilated. The number of international conflicts involving two or more nations steadily increased from 1950 to 1980.

After reaching a high in 1980 with 30 international wars, the number steadily decreased. There was one international war in 2010, which is the lowest in history.

Number of Democracies

There were only about 40 democracies in 1975, which is when international wars were on the higher side. As time has progressed, more countries have adopted the democratic system.

This is important because democracies try to avoid wars. They will usually talk to resolve any conflicts. This has been an effective strategy because it has significantly decreased the total number of international battles.

Conclusion

Battles and conflict-related deaths have been steadily decreasing since the 1950s. Though civil wars are still common, they are causing fewer deaths and they are also decreasing. World peace might be coming, but it will be years before all the fighting really does stop.

 

Source: SuperScholar