War is killing fewer people than ever before

Jun 23, 2015

Mark Jones

Head of Digital Content, The World Economic Forum

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Global Governance

The tendency for international news to focus on violent conflict makes it hard not to conclude that the world is getting more dangerous.

But a growing body of evidence suggests the opposite is the case.

Harvard Professor Steven Pinker charted the pacification of human society from pre-history to the 20th Century in The Better Angels of Our Nature and found death rates from conflict falling from 15% per annum to 3%.

Now Oxford University economist Max Roser has charted the available statistics on conflict since 1400 on OurWorldInData.

The chart uses a logarithmic scale for deaths, which means the reduction in conflict mortality rates in the 20th Century is sharper than it appears at first sight.

Author: Mark Jones is Commissioning Editor for the World Economic Forum

Image: Iraqi girls gesture as they celebrate after Iraqi security forces entered the town of Amerli September 1, 2014. REUTERS/ Stringer

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