War » One hundred thousand people lost their lives in Ethiopia last year » Death toll at highest in 21st century

The study by the Institute for Economics and Peace calculated that war and violence cost the world 12.9 percent of GDP, with total conflict deaths at their highest this century.

DW »

Since the 21st century began, war has never cost humanity so much. The number of conflict deaths almost doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year. And war caused a 13% loss of global GDP, according to the Global Peace Index, released on Wednesday by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

The major new survey by the global think tank said that the average level of “global peacefulness” had sunk for the ninth year in a row, with conflict deaths topping the previous global peak reached in 2014 during the Syrian Civil War.

The dramatic increase in death rates was mostly driven by the war in Ukraine, where 83,000 people were killed in the past year, though the bloodiest conflict was in Ethiopia, where 100,000 people lost their lives.