The number of state conflicts around the world will reach its highest level since World War II in 2025, a Norwegian study said on Tuesday, warning of a surge in attacks against civilians.
The Oslo Peace Research Institute’s annual “Conflict Trends” report said a total of 65 conflicts involving at least one country were recorded globally last year, a new high since 1946.
Conflicts between countries also hit an 80-year high, doubling from the previous year to eight, including border conflicts between India and Pakistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s military operations in Syria.
“Unfortunately, there are not many positive things,” researcher Siri Aas Rustad told a group of media outlets including AFP.
“Usually I can squeeze something positive out of it, but the numbers this year are shocking.”
Last year was the third deadliest year since the end of the Cold War, with some 245,000 people killed as a direct result of fighting or political violence, nearly 76,500 of whom died in attacks directly targeting civilians, compared with 14,200 in 2024.
The sharp increase in civilian deaths is due to clashes between the Sudanese army and paramilitary groups, with a siege and massacre in the Darfur city of El Fasher estimated to have killed around 60,000 people.
Since the end of the Cold War, only the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in 2021 have seen more bloodshed.
– Africa worst affected –
“What’s happened in the last five or six years is that we’ve had several major conflicts at the same time, and they seem to be superseding each other. There’s been no breakthrough in the world,” Rustad said.
“This is different from previous conflicts that have continued to be high-intensity around the world.”
The PRIO study is based on data compiled by the Uppsala Conflict Data Project, affiliated with Uppsala University.
It distinguishes between three main types of organized violence: conflicts involving at least one state, non-state conflicts, and unilateral violence against civilians.
Africa remains the region most affected by category 1 conflicts, with 29, followed by Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Europe.
Israel is “clearly one of the most aggressive countries in the world right now,” Rustad said, noting that Israel is involved in different types of conflicts in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, against Iran and the Houthi rebels.
She also pointed to the United States, saying President Donald Trump’s return to power “has brought not only increased attacks and violence, but also trade barriers that they have erected.”
“We are limiting cooperation. The Security Council is not working right now. Our world is more polarized,” she said.
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
