civilian casualty ratio

Globally, the civilian casualty ratio often hovers around 50%. It is sometimes stated that 90% of victims of modern wars are civilians,Graça Machel, [http://www.unicef.org/graca/a51-306_en.pdf "The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children", Report of the expert of the Secretary-General, 26 Aug 1996, p. 9.] but that is a myth.

In 1989, William Eckhardt studied casualties of conflicts from 1700 to 1987 and found that "the civilian percentage share of war-related deaths remained at about 50% from century to century." He noted the civilian casualty ratio remained consisted despite the fact that number of deaths from wars increased four times faster than the increase in world population, when comparing the 18th century to the 20th century.

In 1999, the International Committee of the Red Cross estimated that between 30 and 65% of conflict casualties were civilians. The 2005 Human Security Report noted that the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) indicated, in 2002, that 30–60% of fatalities from conflicts were civilians.

The "Cities and Armed Conflict Events (CACE)" database of the UCDP provides death counts for all urban conflicts between 1989 and 2017. According to the CACE, in urban conflicts (defined as all cities with a population > 100,000{{Cite web |title=Codebook: Cities and Armed Conflict Events (CACE) |url=https://ucdp.uu.se/downloads/cace/CACE_codebook.pdf}}): 28.9% of deaths are civilians, 29.5% are combatants, and 41.628% are unknown.{{Cite web |last=Overton |first=Iain |date=2024-08-02 |title=Netanyahu got it wrong before the US Congress: IDF's clean performance in Gaza is a lie |url=https://aoav.org.uk/2024/netanyahu-got-it-wrong-before-the-us-congress-idfs-clean-performance-in-gaza-is-a-lie/ |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=AOAV |language=en-US}} If excluding unknowns, then civilian casualties make up 49.5% of all fatalities in warfare in cities. If the data is limited to cities with population >750,000, then 29.8% of deaths are civilians, 15.3% are combatants, and 54.9% are unknown. If excluding unknowns, then civilian casualties make up 66.1% of all fatalities in warfare in large cities.

During the 1990s, an argument arose that civilian casualty ratio had dramatically increased. The argument stated that, as of 1900, civilians constituted 10% of all casualties, but by the 1990s, civilians constituted 90% of all casualties.{{Citation |last=Seybolt |first=Taylor B. |title=Significant Numbers: Civilian Casualties and Strategic Peacebuilding |date=2013-06-12 |work=Counting Civilian Casualties: An Introduction to Recording and Estimating Nonmilitary Deaths in Conflict |pages=15 |editor-last=Seybolt |editor-first=Taylor B. |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/7463/chapter-abstract/152370967?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2024-12-30 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199977307.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-997730-7 |editor2-last=Aronson |editor2-first=Jay D. |editor3-last=Fischhoff |editor3-first=Baruch}} This figure has been widely doubted, and research has found little to no evidence that 90% of casualties are civilians. The 2005 Human Security Report called it a "myth" and instead suggested that 30–60% of fatalities from conflicts in 2002 were civilians. Likewise, the International Committee of the Red Cross estimated in 1999, that between 30 and 65% of conflict casualties were civilians.

There are two original sources for the myth of 90% of casualties being civilians. The first source – Christa Ahlström and Kjell-Åke Nordquist’s 1991 Casualties of ConflictAhlstrom, C. and K.-A. Nordquist (1991). Casualties of conflict: report for the world campaign for the protection of victims of war. Uppsala, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. published by Uppsala University – stated that "nine out of ten victims (dead and uprooted) of war and armed  conflict today are civilians". Some readers misconstrued it as 90% of fatalities being civilians. In fact, the same report counted only fatalities for the year of 1989 and in that case found only 67% of fatalities were civilians. The second source was Ruth Sivard's World Military and Social Expenditures,Sivard, R. L. (1991). World Military and Social Expenditures 1991. Washington DC, World Priorities, Inc. Vol. 14, pp 22-25. also published in 1991. Sivard did indeed say that 90% of deaths in conflicts, during the year 1990, were civilian. But Sivard included famine-related deaths, which are typically not counted in civilian casualty ratios. Sivard was also criticized for not stating her sources, and the Human Security Report 2005 noted there was insufficient global data on deaths caused by war-related famine. Nevertheless, these claims were erroneously picked up by Graca Machel's "The Machel Review 1996–2000: A Critical Analysis of Progress Made and Obstacles Encountered in Increasing Protection for War-Affected Children" written for the UNICEF.

{{see also|World War I casualties}}

Some 7 million combatants on both sides are estimated to have died during World War I, along with an estimated 10 million non-combatants, including 6.6 million civilians.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} The civilian casualty ratio in this estimate would be about 59%. Boris Urlanis notes a lack of data on civilian losses in the Ottoman Empire, but estimates 8.6 million military killed and dead and 6 million civilians killed and dead in the other warring countries.Urlanis, Boris, War and Population, pp. 209 and 268, rounded off. The civilian casualty ratio in this estimate would be about 42%. Most of the civilian fatalities were due to famine, typhus, or Spanish flu rather than combat action. The relatively low ratio of civilian casualties in this war is due to the fact that the front lines on the main battlefront, the Western Front, were static for most of the war, so that civilians were able to avoid the combat zones.

Germany suffered 300-750,000 civilian dead during and after the war due to famine caused by the Allied blockade. Russia and Turkey suffered civilian casualties in the millions in the Russian Civil War and invasion of Anatolia respectively. Armenia suffered up to 1.5 million civilians dead in the Armenian genocide.Urlanis, Boris, War and Population, p. 278

{{see also|World War II casualties}}

According to most sources, World War II was the most lethal war in world history, with some 70 million killed in six years. According to some, the civilian to combatant fatality ratio in World War II lies somewhere between 3:2 and 2:1, or from 60% to 67%.Sadowski, p. 134. See the World War II casualties article for a detailed breakdown of casualties.{{Cite web |title=WWII: share of civilian and military deaths by country 1939-1945 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351474/second-world-war-civilian-military-fatalities-per-country/ |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=Statista |language=en}} According to others, the ratio is at least 3:1 and potentially higher.{{Cite web |title=Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en}} The high ratio of civilian casualties in this war was due in part to the increasing effectiveness and lethality of strategic weapons which were used to target enemy industrial or population centers, and famines caused by economic disruption. An estimated 2.1–3 million Indians died in the Bengal famine of 1943 in India during World War II. A substantial number of civilians in this war were also deliberately killed by Axis Powers as a result of genocide such as the Holocaust or other ethnic cleansing campaigns.Neiberg, Michael S. (2002): Warfare in World History, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PLQ9N1f7HnAC&dq=%22civilian+casualties%22+%22world+war+i%22&pg=PA68 pp. 68-70], Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-22954-8}}.

The median total estimated Korean civilian deaths in the Korean War is 2,730,000. The total estimated North Korean combatant deaths is 213,000 and the estimated Chinese combatant deaths is over 400,000. In addition to this the Republic of Korea combatant deaths is around 134,000 dead and the combatant deaths for the United Nations side is around 49,000 dead and missing (40,000 dead, 9,000 missing). The estimated total Korean war military dead is around 793,000 deaths. The civilian-combatant death ratio in the war is approximately 3:1 or 75%. One source estimates that 20% of the total population of North Korea perished in the war.Deane, p. 149.

The Vietnamese government has estimated the number of Vietnamese civilians killed in the Vietnam War at two million, and the number of NVA and Viet Cong killed at 1.1 million—estimates which approximate those of a number of other sources.[http://www.virtual.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/232/2322414020.pdf "20 Years After Victory"]{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Philip Shenon, clipping from the Vietnam Center and Archive website. This would give a civilian-combatant fatality ratio of approximately 2:1, or 67%. These figures do not include civilians killed in Cambodia and Laos. However, the lowest estimate of 411,000{{cite web|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB6.1A.GIF |title=Table 6.1A - Vietnam Democide Estimates Sources and Calculations |publisher=University of Hawaii |access-date=2014-01-05}} civilians killed during the war (including civilians killed in Cambodia and Laos) would give a civilian-combatant fatality ratio of approximately 1:3, or 25%. Using the lowest estimate of Vietnamese military deaths, 400,000, the ratio is about 1:1.

During the 1991–1995 Bosnian war, one study estimated 97,207 were killed, of which 39,648 (41%) were civilians. That study did acknowledge that it likely underestimated the civilian count and overestimated the soldier count. The Demographic Unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia used the capture-recapture method to estimate war-related deaths at 104,723, of which 42,106 (40%) were civilians.

{{see also|Civilian casualties during Operation Allied Force}}

In 1999, NATO intervened in the Kosovo War with a bombing campaign against Yugoslav forces, who were conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The bombing lasted about 2½ months, until forcing the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army from Kosovo.

Estimates for the number of casualties caused by the bombing vary widely depending on the source. NATO unofficially claimed a toll of 5,000 enemy combatants killed by the bombardment; the Yugoslav government, on the other hand, gave a figure of 638 of its security forces killed in Kosovo.Larson, p. 71. Estimates for the civilian toll are similarly disparate. Human Rights Watch counted approximately 500 civilians killed by the bombing; the Yugoslav government estimated between 1,200 and 5,000.Larson, p. 65.

If the NATO figures are to be believed, the bombings achieved a civilian to combatant kill ratio of about 1:10, on the Yugoslav government's figures, conversely, the ratio would be between 4:1 and 10:1. If the most conservative estimates from the sources cited above are used, the ratio was around 1:1.

{{see also|Casualties of the Second Chechen War}}

During the First Chechen War, 4,000 separatist fighters and 40,000 civilians are estimated to have died, giving a civilian-combatant ratio of 10:1. The numbers for the Second Chechen War are 3,000 fighters and 13,000 civilians, for a ratio of 4.3:1. The combined ratio for both wars is 7.6:1. Casualty numbers for the conflict are notoriously unreliable. The estimates of the civilian casualties during the First Chechen war range from 20,000 to 100,000, with remaining numbers being similarly unreliable.{{cite book |last=Zürcher |first=Christoph |author-link=Christoph Zuercher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0DTtKEktdEC |title=The post-Soviet wars: rebellion, ethnic conflict, and nationhood in the Caucasus |date=November 2007 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9780814797099 |page=100}} The tactics employed by Russian forces in both wars were heavily criticized by human rights groups, which accused them of indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilian areas and other crimes.[https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1996/WR96/Helsinki-16.htm "Russian Federation - Human Rights Developments"], Human Rights Watch report, 1996.[http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webeurcountries/RUSSIAN+Federation?OpenDocument Russian Federation 2001 Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114184928/http://www.web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webeurcountries/RUSSIAN%2BFEDERATION?OpenDocument|date=November 14, 2007}} Amnesty International

Civilian casualty ratios have been a contention issue in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the Second Intifada, civilians constituted ~70% of Israelis killed by Palestinians and ~60% of Palestinians killed by Israelis. Civilians constituted ~75% and ~65% of all Palestinians killed in the 2008 Gaza war and 2014 Gaza War, respectively. In the Gaza war, civilians have constituted 68% of those killed by Hamas attacks, and ~80% of those killed by the Israeli invasion.

In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with the stated aim of driving the PLO away from its northern borders.{{cite book|last= Sorenson|first=David S. |title=Global Security Watch--Lebanon: A Reference Handbook|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36578-2|pages=22–23}} The war culminated in a seven-week-long Israeli naval, air and artillery bombardment of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, where the PLO had retreated. The bombardment eventually came to an end with an internationally brokered settlement in which the PLO forces were given safe passage to evacuate the country.Hartley et al., pp. 91-92.

According to the International Red Cross, by the end of the first week of the war alone, some 10,000 people, including 2,000 combatants, had been killed, and 16,000 wounded—a civilian-combatant fatality ratio of 4:1.Layoun et al, p. 134. Lebanese government sources later estimated that by the end of the siege of Beirut, a total of about 18,000 had been killed, an estimated 85% of whom were civilians.Washington Post, November 16, 1984{{cite journal|title=The 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon: the casualties |doi=10.1177/030639688302400404 |date=1983-04-01 |volume=24 |issue=4 |journal=Race & Class |pages=340–343|s2cid=220910633 }} This gives a civilian to military casualty ratio of about 6:1.

According to Richard A. Gabriel between 1,000 and 3,000 civilians were killed in the southern campaign.Gabriel, Richard, A, Operation Peace for Galilee, The Israeli-PLO War in Lebanon, New York: Hill & Wang. 1984, p. 164, 165, {{ISBN|0-8090-7454-0}} He states that an additional 4,000 to 5,000 civilians died from all actions of all sides during the siege of Beirut, and that some 2,000 Syrian soldiers were killed during the Lebanon campaign and a further 2,400 PLO guerillas were also killed. Of these, 1,000 PLO guerrillas were killed during the siege. According to Gabriel the ratio of civilian deaths to combatants during the siege was about 6 to 1 but this ratio includes civilian deaths from all actions of all sides.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) estimated 4,228 Palestinians and 1,024 Israelis were killed between 2000 and 2007. It quoted B'Tselem estimating that of the Israelis killed by Palestinians, 31% were members of the IDF, while 69% were civilians. For the Palestinians killed by Israelis, 41% were combatants while 59% were civilians.

During this period various other claims were made regarding Palestinian civilian to combatants killed by Israel. Amos Harel wrote that the civilian to combatant casualty ratio of Israeli airstrikes (not including ground operations) was 1:1 in 2003, but by 2007 it had improved to 1:30.[http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/pinpoint-attacks-on-gaza-more-precise-1.236163 "Pinpoint attacks on Gaza more precise"]. Amos Harel, Haaretz, 30 December 2007 Meanwhile, the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet claimed that of the Palestinians killed between 2006–2007 period in the Gaza Strip (not including the West Bank), only 20% were civilians.{{cite news |author=Barak Ravid |date=14 January 2008 |title=Haaretz probe: Shin Bet count of Gaza civilian deaths is too low |work=Haaretz}} The Ha'aretz criticized the Shin Bet as underestimating the civilian casualties. B'Tselem data of Palestinians killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip (not including the West Bank) Jan 1, 2006 to Dec 31, 2007, shows 821 killed, of which 405 were combatants (49%), 346 non-combatants (42%) and the rest with unknown status.{{Cite web |title=Fatalities: Before Cast Lead [Explanation] |url=https://statistics.btselem.org/en/stats/before-cast-lead/by-date-of-incident?regionSensor=%5B%22b40f813%22%5D&dateSensor=%221136102400000%2C1199163599000%22§ion=participation&tab=charts |website=B'Tselem}}

Yagil Levy, an Israeli sociologist writing in Ha'aretz at the end of 2023, analysed civilian casualty rates in five Israeli aerial operations: Pillar of Defense (~1 week in November 2012); Guardian of the Walls (~10 days in May 2021); Breaking Dawn (3 days, August 2022); Shield and Arrow (5 days in May 2023); and the first two months of the Gaza war, based on reports of the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. He calculated civilian fatality rates for these as follows: 40%, 40%, 42%, 33% and 61%.{{cite web |last=Levy |first=Yagil |date=9 December 2023 |title=The Israeli Army Has Dropped the Restraint in Gaza, and the Data Shows Unprecedented Killing |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-09/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/the-israeli-army-has-dropped-the-restraint-in-gaza-and-data-shows-unprecedented-killing/0000018c-4cca-db23-ad9f-6cdae8ad0000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240229162951/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-09/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/the-israeli-army-has-dropped-the-restraint-in-gaza-and-data-shows-unprecedented-killing/0000018c-4cca-db23-ad9f-6cdae8ad0000#selection-953.354-953.424 |archive-date=29 February 2024 |access-date=14 May 2024 |website=Haaretz.com}}

{{see also|Gaza War (2008–2009)|Casualties of the Gaza War (2008–2009)}}

{{Casualties of the Gaza War (2008–2009)}}

Based on the above, most sources estimate 20% of Palestinians killed were combatants, and 75% of Israelis killed were combatants.

{{see also|List of Israeli strikes and Palestinian casualties in the 2014 Gaza War}}

Reports of casualties in the 2014 Gaza War have been made available by a variety of sources. Most media accounts have used figures provided by the government in Gaza or non-governmental organizations.{{cite news |last=Farhi |first=Paul |date=4 August 2014 |title=Reporters grapple with politics, erratic sources in reporting Israeli/Gaza death toll |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/reporters-grapple-with-politics-erratic-sources-in-reporting-israeligaza-death-toll/2014/08/04/c02ab282-1c10-11e4-ae54-0cfe1f974f8a_story.html |access-date=12 August 2014 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} Differing methodologies have resulted in varied reports of both the overall death toll and the civilian casualty ratio.{{Cite news |last=Reuben |first=Anthony |date=11 August 2014 |title=Caution needed with Gaza casualty figures |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28688179 |access-date=12 August 2014 |journal=BBC News}}

According to the main estimates between 2,125[http://mfa.gov.il/ProtectiveEdge/Documents/PalestinianFatalities.pdf Annex: Palestinian Fatality Figures in the 2014 Gaza Conflict] from report [http://mfa.gov.il/ProtectiveEdge/Documents/2014GazaConflictFullReport.pdf The 2014 Gaza Conflict: Factual and Legal Aspects], Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 June 2015 and 2,310[http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=751290 'Ministry: Death toll from Gaza offensive topped 2,310,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111023729/http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=751290|date=2015-01-11}} Ma'an News Agency 3 January 2015. Gazans were killed and between 10,626 and 10,895{{cite web |title=Statistics: Victims of the Israeli Offensive on Gaza since 8 July 2014 |url=http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10491:statistics-victims-of-the-israeli-offensive-on-gaza-since-08-july-2014&catid=145:in-focus |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626164255/http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10491:statistics-victims-of-the-israeli-offensive-on-gaza-since-08-july-2014&catid=145:in-focus |archive-date=26 June 2015 |access-date=27 August 2014 |publisher=Pchrgaza.org}} were wounded (including 3,374 children, of whom over 1,000 were left permanently disabled[http://www.dci-palestine.org/sites/default/files/operationprotectiveedge.awarwagedonchildren.160415.pdf Operation Protective Edge: A war waged on Gaza's children,] Defence for Children International-Palestine, Ramallah, 16 April 2015.{{Better source needed|neutral source required =|date=May 2016}}). 66 Israeli soldiers, 5 Israeli civilians (including one child)[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28904028 Israeli child 'killed by rocket fired from Gaza'], BBC and one Thai civilian were killed{{cite web |date=4 September 2014 |title=Occupied Palestinian Territory: Gaza Emergency |url=http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_sitrep_04_09_2014.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913014525/http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_sitrep_04_09_2014.pdf |archive-date=13 September 2014 |access-date=4 September 2014}} and 469 IDF soldiers and 261 Israeli civilians were injured.{{cite news |last=Hartman |first=Ben |date=28 August 2014 |title=50 days of Israel's Gaza operation, Protective Edge – by the numbers |url=http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/50-days-of-Israels-Gaza-operation-Protective-Edge-by-the-numbers-372574 |work=Jerusalem Post}} The Gaza Health Ministry, UN and some human rights groups reported that 69–75% of the Palestinian casualties were civilians;{{cite web |title=Islamic Jihad: 121 of our fighters killed in Gaza |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/islamic-jihad-121-of-our-fighters-killed-in-gaza/ |access-date=30 September 2014 |work=The Times of Israel}} Israeli officials estimated that around 50% of those killed were civilians.,{{cite news |last1=Laub |first1=Karin |last2=AlHou |first2=Yousur |date=8 August 2014 |title=In Gaza, dispute over civilian vs combatant deaths |url=https://news.yahoo.com/gaza-dispute-over-civilian-vs-combatant-deaths-181755421.html |access-date=29 August 2014 |publisher=Yahoo News |agency=Associated Press}} giving Israeli forces a ratio between 1:1 and 3:1 during the conflict.

In March 2015, OCHA reported that 2,220 Palestinians had been killed in the conflict, of whom 1,492 were civilians (551 children and 299 women), 605 militants and 123 of unknown status, giving Israeli forces a ratio of 3:1.[http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/annual_humanitarian_overview_2014_english_final.pdf Fragmented Lives: Humanitarian Overview, 2014] OCHA March 2015.

{{Main|Casualties of the Gaza war}}

The casualty counts from the Gaza war vary. It is estimated that of the nearly 1,200 people killed on October 7, 68% were civilians giving a casualty ratio of 2.1:1. Israel's bombing and invasion of Gaza Strip has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, and is ongoing.{{Cite journal |last1=Jamaluddine |first1=Zeina |last2=Abukmail |first2=Hanan |last3=Aly |first3=Sarah |last4=Campbell |first4=Oona M R |last5=Checchi |first5=Francesco |date=2025-02-08|title=Traumatic injury mortality in the Gaza Strip from Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024: a capture–recapture analysis |journal=The Lancet |language=English |volume=405 |issue=10477 |pages=469–477 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02678-3 |issn=0140-6736 |doi-access=free |pmid=39799952 }} Women and children are estimated to be 60–70%{{cite news |author=Mallory Moench |date=8 November 2024 |title=Nearly 70% of Gaza war dead verified by UN are women and children |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5wel11pgdo |work=BBC News}} of the casualties. After adding civilian adult men, most sources estimate that 80% of all Palestinians killed in Gaza Strip are civilians, giving a civilian casualty ratio of 4:1. The IDF claims the civilian casualty ratio is 1.4:1, without providing any evidence, though some observer say the IDF counts all military-age male fatalities as combatants.{{cite news |author=Marc Lynch and Sarah Parkinson |title=A closer look at the Gaza casualty data |url=https://goodauthority.org/news/gaza-casualty-data/ |publisher=Good Authority |quote="The Israel Defense Forces claims a 2:1 kill ratio...it's a very specific political choice to label all Palestinian men between 18 and 59 “military-age men” (as Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levy, among others, has done). This equates the constructed category of “potential combatants” with viable targets, and functionally assumes Palestinian men's culpability based on demographics alone.}}Al Taher, Nada (March 26, 2024). [https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/palestine-israel/2024/03/26/genocide-convention-report-israel-gaza/ "Israeli campaign in Gaza meets genocide definition, says UN official". The National] "Israel failed to prove that the remaining 30 percent, i.e. adult males, were active Hamas combatants – a necessary condition for them to be lawfully targeted," the report read. Israel assigned all adult men "active fighter status by default" in December last year when it said it had killed more than 7,000 "terrorists", although men comprised less than 5,000 of the casualties at the time. For mathematical inconsistencies in the IDF data, and further criticism, see Casualties of the Israel–Hamas war – Israeli military claims.

{{see also|Casualties of the Iraq War}}

According to a 2010 assessment by John Sloboda of Iraq Body Count, a United Kingdom-based organization, American and Coalition forces (including Iraqi government forces) had killed at least 28,736 combatants as well as 13,807 civilians in the Iraq War, indicating a civilian to combatant casualty ratio inflicted by coalition forces of 1:2.{{cite news |last=Katz |first=Yaakov |date=2010-10-29 |title=Analysis: Lies, leaks, death tolls & statistics |url=http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?ID=193196&R=R1 |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post}} However, overall, figures by the Iraq Body Count from 20 March 2003 to 14 March 2013 indicate that of 174,000 casualties only 39,900 were combatants, resulting in a civilian casualty rate of 77%. Most civilians were killed by anti-government insurgents and unidentified third parties.{{cite web |title=The War in Iraq: 10 years and counting |url=https://www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/ten-years/ |access-date=13 July 2014 |website=Iraq Body Count}}

The global coalition's War against the Islamic State, from 2014, had led to as many as 50,000 ISIL combatant casualties by the end of 2016.{{#invoke:cite web||url=http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/09/politics/isis-dead-us-military/|title=Military: 50,000 ISIS fighters killed|publisher=CNN|date=9 December 2016}} Airwars calculated that 8,200–13,275 civilians were killed in Coalition airstrikes, mainly up to the end of 2017, with especially high casualty rates during the Battle of Mosul.{{cite web |title=US-led Coalition in Iraq & Syria |url=https://airwars.org/conflict/coalition-in-iraq-and-syria/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240511004312/https://airwars.org/conflict/coalition-in-iraq-and-syria/ |archive-date=2024-05-11}} An Associated Press investigation found that in the Battle of Mosul, of the >9,000 fatalities, between 42% and 60% were civilians.{{cite web |last1=Hinnant |first1=Lori |last2=Michael |first2=Maggie |last3=Abdul-Zahra |first3=Qassim |last4=George |first4=Susannah |date=21 December 2017 |title=Mosul is a graveyard: Final IS battle kills 9,000 civilians |url=https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-only-on-ap-islamic-state-group-bbea7094fb954838a2fdc11278d65460 |access-date=14 May 2024 |website=AP News}}

{{see also|Civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan (2001–2021)}}

According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, as of January 2015 roughly 92,000 people had been killed in the Afghanistan war, of which over 26,000 were civilians, for a civilian to combatant ratio of 1:2.5.[http://costsofwar.org/article/afghan-civilians "Afghan Civilians | Costs of War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616010655/http://costsofwar.org/article/afghan-civilians |date=2013-06-16 }}

{{main|Drone strikes in Pakistan#Civilian casualties}}

The civilian casualty ratio for U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan conducted during 2004 and 2018 as part of the War on terror is notoriously difficult to quantify. In 2010, the U.S. itself put the number of civilians killed from drone strikes in the last two years at no more than 20 to 30, a total that is far too low according to a spokesman for the NGO CIVIC.[http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/12/10/105104/pakistanis-protest-civilian-deaths.html "Pakistanis protest civilian deaths in U.S. drone attacks"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101212135429/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/12/10/105104/pakistanis-protest-civilian-deaths.html|date=2010-12-12}}, Saeed Shah, mcclatchy.com, 2010-12-10. At the other extreme, Daniel L. Byman of the Brookings Institution suggested in 2009 that drone strikes may kill "10 or so civilians" for every militant killed, which would represent a civilian to combatant casualty ratio of 10:1. Byman argues that civilian killings constitute a humanitarian tragedy and create dangerous political problems, including damage to the legitimacy of the Pakistani government and alienation of the Pakistani populace from America.Daniel L. Byman, [http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2009/07/14-targeted-killings-byman Do Targeted Killings Work?], Brookings 14-07-2009 An ongoing study by the New America Foundation finds non-militant casualty rates started high but declined steeply over time, from about 60% (3 out of 5) in 2004–2007 to less than 2% (1 out of 50) in 2012. In 2011, the study put the overall non-militant casualty rate since 2004 at 15–16%, or a 1:5 ratio, out of a total of between 1,908 and 3,225 people killed in Pakistan by drone strikes since 2004.[http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones "The Year of the Drone: An Analysis of U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan, 2004-2012"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830213657/http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones|date=August 30, 2011}}, New America Foundation. Retrieved 2012-10-24.

The civilian to combatant ratio in the Sri Lankan civil war was likely worse than 1:1.

Although it is estimated that over 1 million people died in the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920, most died from disease and hunger as an indirect result of the war. Combat deaths are generally agreed to have totaled about 250,000. According to Eckhardt, these included 125,000 civilian deaths and 125,000 combatant deaths, creating a civilian-combatant death ratio of 1:1 among combat deaths.[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls]. Users.erols.com. Retrieved 2010-11-28.[http://www.hist.umn.edu/~rmccaa/missmill/mxrev.htm Missing Millions: The human cost of the Mexican Revolution, 1910–1930]. Hist.umn.edu. Retrieved 2010-11-28.

The casualty figures for the Kurdish insurgency in Turkey between the years 2000 and 2016, show 13–18% of those killed were civilians. The data did not distinguish between civilians killed by Turkish forces vs those killed by PKK militants.{{Cite journal |last1=Besaw |first1=Clayton |last2=Ritter |first2=Kellan |last3=Tezcür |first3=Güneş Murat |date=2023-07-01 |title=Beyond Collateral Damage: The Politics of Civilian Victimization in a Civil War |url=https://academic.oup.com/isagsq/article/3/3/ksad050/7282426#418991694 |journal=Global Studies Quarterly |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=ksad050 |doi=10.1093/isagsq/ksad050 |issn=2634-3797|doi-access=free }}

• Non-combatant casualty value
• Casualty recording
• Collateral damage
• Asymmetric warfare
• Fourth generation warfare
• Loss exchange ratio
• Just war
• Distinction (law)
• Proportionality (law)
• Military necessity

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Refbegin}}

• Anstrom, Jan; Duyvesteyn, Isabelle (2004): Rethinking the Nature of War, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zzj7GaVlGugC&dq=conventional+war+definition&pg=PA72 pp. 72-80], Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-35461-5}}.
• Deane, Hugh (1999): The Korean War: 1945-1953, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XMJpnYmKNQsC&dq=%22korean+war%22+casualties+20%25+population&pg=PA149 p. 149], China Books & Periodicals, {{ISBN|978-0-8351-2644-1}}.
• Hartley, Cathy et al (2004): Survey of Arab-Israeli Relations, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0FpOkNTYjMsC&dq=1982+lebanon+war+%22civilian+casualties%22&pg=PA91 p. 91], Routledge, {{ISBN|978-1-85743-261-9}}.
• Larson, Eric V. (2007): Misfortunes of War: Press and Public Reactions to Civilian Deaths in Wartime, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6ObdTmQksYC&dq=%22operation+allied+force%22+casualties&pg=PA63 pp. 65, 71], RAND Corp., {{ISBN|978-0-8330-3897-5}}.
• Layoun, Mary N. et al (2001): Wedded to the Land? Gender, Boundaries, & Nationalism in Crisis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rYidUIGpUDcC&dq=1982+lebanon+war+%22civilian+casualties%22&pg=PA134 p. 134], Duke University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8223-2545-1}}.
• Mattar, Philip: (2005): Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GkbzYoZtaJMC&dq=1982+lebanon+war+%22civilian+casualties%22&pg=PA47 p. 47], Facts on File, {{ISBN|978-0-8160-5764-1}}.
• Sadowski, Yahya M. (1998): The Myth of Global Chaos, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aHJRCC4Ddx4C&dq=%22world+war+II%22+%22civilian+casualties%22&pg=PA134 p. 134], Brookings Institution Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8157-7664-2}}.
• Snow, Donald M. (1996): Uncivil Wars: International Security and the New Internal Conflicts, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VtwR78q8oKQC&dq=unconventional+war+definition&pg=PA65 pp. 64-66], Lynne Rienner Publishers, {{ISBN|978-1-55587-655-5}}.

{{Refend}}

• {{cite book |last1=Dumas |first1=Samuel |last2=Vedel-Petersen |first2=K. O. |year=1923 |chapter=Chapter VII: The mortality of the civilian population |title=Losses of Life Caused by War |editor-last=Westergaard |editor-first=Harald |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |url=https://archive.org/details/lossesoflifecaus00samu |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/lossesoflifecaus00samu#page/115/mode/1up}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Civilian Casualty Ratio}}

Category:Ratios

Category:War

Category:War on terror

Category:Civilian casualties