Project 01 · Who is dying, and where · 2022–2024

Four countries.
Half the dead.

Scaled by population, the map changes — and Palestine becomes the global outlier.

Just four countries account for half of all recorded conflict deaths worldwide. But raw numbers can hide as much as they reveal.

623K
Total deaths · 2022–2024
50%
Concentrated in 4 countries
994
Palestine · per 100,000
Each dot · one thousand people

623,000 lives ended
in three years of war.

The grid below turns three years of conflict into a field of dots: each one a life, each cluster a country.

1 dot = 1,000 conflict deaths
623 dots = total deaths · 2022–2024
Source · ACLED
312Top 4 countries
311225 other countries
312 of 623 dots (50.1%) belong to four countries · the remaining 311 are spread across 225.
155 countries with recorded deaths · 74 with zero · 229 covered.

The chart below opens that geography country by country, then changes the question. Not only where did most people die — but where did death weigh most heavily on society?

Top four countries by absolute deaths
Violence against civilians
Deaths per 100,000 population
Conflict deaths by country, 2022 to 2024 Four-step chart. Step 1: the four countries that hold half of global conflict deaths, ranked by absolute fatalities — Ukraine 155K, Myanmar 67K, Palestine 54K, Sudan 38K. Step 2 expands the ranking to the top 16 countries by absolute deaths. Step 3 switches the denominator to deaths per 100,000 population — Palestine 994, Ukraine 410, Myanmar 123, Sudan 75. Step 4 overlays the share classified as violence against civilians (Mexico 81%, DR Congo 55%).
Source · ACLED · 229 countries covered · 2022–2024 · population: UN WPP 2023
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01 — The Methodological Turn

First, the map
of accumulation.

In absolute numbers, the burden is concentrated in four countries: Ukraine, Myanmar, Palestine and Sudan.

Together, they account for half of all recorded conflict deaths between 2022 and 2024.

02 — The Long Tail

Then comes
the long tail.

Beyond the first four, the toll spreads across Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Syria and DR Congo.

These are not always conventional wars. Often, they are fragmented systems of armed violence.

03 — The Hidden Scale

Scale the deaths.
Palestine leads.

The same countries. A different denominator.

When deaths are scaled by population, the ranking changes. Palestine rises to the top: 994 deaths per 100,000 people — nearly one in every hundred killed in three years.

Absolute numbers show where death accumulated. Population scale shows where death hit society hardest.

994
Palestine
per 100,000
410
Ukraine
per 100,000
04 — Who Dies as a Civilian

Not soldiers.
Civilians.

The red overlay shows deaths classified as direct violence against civilians.

In Mexico, 81% of recorded conflict deaths are civilian-targeted. In Brazil, 54%. In DR Congo, 55%.

These figures do not describe battlefields alone. They describe organized violence against people without uniforms, without weapons, and often without escape.

81%
Mexico
civilian deaths · targeted
55%
DR Congo
civilian deaths · targeted
14

Countries with more than 10,000 deaths in 2022–2024. They are 6% of nations yet account for 82% of all recorded conflict fatalities.

74

Countries with zero recorded conflict deaths in the dataset. One in three. Violence is not global — it concentrates in specific geographies.

55%

Of deaths in DR Congo were direct violence against civilians. In Mexico, the share reaches 81%.

17.8K

Recorded cases of abduction and forced disappearance · 2022–2024. Syria, Nigeria, Cameroon and Myanmar account for the majority.

ACLED · abductions / forced disappearances event-type · 2022–2024
Coming next · Section 03

If the dying is concentrated —
where is the money?

Half of the world's conflict deaths sit inside four borders. Military spending sits almost entirely outside them. Section 03 asks what the asymmetry of power looks like when set against the asymmetry of exposure.