SUMMARY

The falling trend in fatalities stemming from organized violence in the world, observed between 2014 and 2019, was decisively reversed in 2021 as fatalities increased significantly. UCDP registered more than 119,100 deaths in organized violence in 2021, a 46 % increase from the previous year. The increase was largely driven by escalating conflicts in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen. Despite the increase in fatalities, the number of active state-based conflicts, as well as the number of actors carrying out one-sided violence against civilians, decreased in 2021. UCDP recorded 54 state-based conflicts in 2021, a decrease by two compared to the previous year. Five of the conflicts were active at the intensity of war, the lowest number of wars since 2010. Violence in 2021 was thus concentrated to fewer but bloodier conflicts. Africa remained the region with the most state-based conflicts, though the number decreased significantly from 30 the year prior to 25 in 2021.

Davies, Shawn, Therese Pettersson & Magnus Öberg (2022). Organized violence 1989-2021 and drone warfare. Journal of Peace Research 59(4).