Conflicts since 1950 with over 10,000 Fatalities*
| 1 | 40,000,000 | Red China, 1949-76 (outright killing, manmade famine, Gulag) |
| 2 | 10,000,000 | Soviet Bloc: late Stalinism, 1950-53; post-Stalinism, to 1987 (mostly Gulag) |
| 3 | 4,000,000 | Ethiopia, 1962-92: Communists, artificial hunger, genocides |
| 4 | 3,800,000 | Zaire (Congo-Kinshasa): 1967-68; 1977-78; 1992-95; 1998-present |
| 5 | 2,800,000 | Korean war, 1950-53 |
| 6 | 1,900,000 | Sudan, 1955-72; 1983-2006 (civil wars, genocides) |
| 7 | 1,870,000 | Cambodia: Khmer Rouge 1975-79; civil war 1978-91 |
| 8 | 1,800,000 | Vietnam War, 1954-75 |
| 9 | 1,800,000 | Afghanistan: Soviet and internecine killings, Taliban 1980-2001 |
| 10 | 1,250,000 | West Pakistan massacres in East Pakistan (Bangladesh 1971) |
| 11 | 1,100,000 | Nigeria, 1966-79 (Biafra); 1993-present |
| 12 | 1,100,000 | Mozambique, 1964-70 (30,000) + after retreat of Portugal 1976-92 |
| 13 | 1,000,000 | Iran-Iraq-War, 1980-88 |
| 14 | 900,000 | Rwanda genocide, 1994 |
| 15 | 875,000 | Algeria: against France 1954-62 (675,000); between Islamists and the government 1991-2006 (200,000) |
| 16 | 850,000 | Uganda, 1971-79; 1981-85; 1994-present |
| 17 | 650,000 | Indonesia: Marxists 1965-66 (450,000); East Timor, Papua, Aceh etc, 1969-present (200,000) |
| 18 | 580,000 | Angola: war against Portugal 1961-72 (80,000); after Portugal's retreat (1972-2002) |
| 19 | 500,000 | Brazil against its Indians, up to 1999 |
| 20 | 430,000 | Vietnam, after the war ended in 1975 (own people; boat refugees) |
| 21 | 400,000 | Indochina: against France, 1945-54 |
| 22 | 400,000 | Burundi, 1959-present (Tutsi/Hutu) |
| 23 | 400,000 | Somalia, 1991-present |
| 24 | 400,000 | North Korea up to 2006 (own people) |
| 25 | 300,000 | Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, 1980s-1990s |
| 26 | 300,000 | Iraq, 1970-2003 (Saddam against minorities) |
| 27 | 240,000 | Columbia, 1946-58; 1964-present |
| 28 | 200,000 | Yugoslavia, Tito regime, 1944-80 |
| 29 | 200,000 | Guatemala, 1960-96 |
| 30 | 190,000 | Laos, 1975-90 |
| 31 | 175,000 | Serbia against Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, 1991-1999 |
| 32 | 150,000 | Romania, 1949-99 (own people) |
| 33 | 150,000 | Liberia, 1989-97 |
| 34 | 140,000 | Russia against Chechnya, 1994-present |
| 35 | 150,000 | Lebanon civil war, 1975-90 |
| 36 | 140,000 | Kuwait War, 1990-91 |
| 37 | 130,000 | Philippines: 1946-54 (10,000); 1972-present (120,000) |
| 38 | 130,000 | Burma/Myanmar, 1948-present |
| 39 | 100,000 | North Yemen, 1962-70 |
| 40 | 100,000 | Sierra Leone, 1991-present |
| 41 | 100,000 | Albania, 1945-91 (own people) |
| 42 | 80,000 | Iran, 1978-79 (revolution) |
| 43 | 75,000 | Iraq, 2003-present (domestic) |
| 44 | 75,000 | El Salvador, 1975-92 |
| 45 | 70,000 | Eritrea against Ethiopia, 1998-2000 |
| 46 | 68,000 | Sri Lanka, 1997-present |
| 47 | 60,000 | Zimbabwe, 1966-79; 1980-present |
| 48 | 60,000 | Nicaragua, 1972-91 (Marxists/natives etc,) |
| 49 | 51,000 | Arab-Israeli conflict 1950-present |
| 50 | 50,000 | North Vietnam, 1954-75 (own people) |
| 51 | 50,000 | Tajikistan, 1992-96 (secularists against Islamists) |
| 52 | 50,000 | Equatorial Guinea, 1969-79 |
| 53 | 50,000 | Peru, 1980-2000 |
| 54 | 50,000 | Guinea, 1958-84 |
| 55 | 40,000 | Chad, 1982-90 |
| 56 | 30,000 | Bulgaria, 1948-89 (own people) |
| 57 | 30,000 | Rhodesia, 1972-79 |
| 58 | 30,000 | Argentina, 1976-83 (own people) |
| 59 | 27,000 | Hungary, 1948-89 (own people) |
| 60 | 26,000 | Kashmir independence, 1989-present |
| 61 | 25,000 | Jordan government vs. Palestinians, 1970-71 (Black September) |
| 62 | 22,000 | Poland, 1948-89 (own people) |
| 63 | 20,000 | Syria, 1982 (against Islamists in Hama) |
| 64 | 20,000 | Chinese-Vietnamese war, 1979 |
| 65 | 19,000 | Morocco: war against France, 1953-56 (3,000) and in Western Sahara, 1975-present (16,000) |
| 66 | 18,000 | Congo Republic, 1997-99 |
| 67 | 10,000 | South Yemen, 1986 (civil war) |
*All figures rounded. Sources: Brzezinski, Z., Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty-first Century, 1993; Courtois, S., Le Livre Noir du Communism, 1997; Heinsohn, G., Lexikon der Völkermorde, 1999, 2nd ed.; Heinsohn, G., Söhne und Weltmacht, 2006, 8th ed.; Rummel. R., Death by Government, 1994; Small, M. and Singer, J.D., Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars 1816-1980, 1982; White, M., "Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century," 2003.
Looking at the above is enough to make my skin crawl. The authors of the above wanted to examine the relative level of death in the Israeli-Palestian conflict. As you can see, it ranks 49th. It is not about simply making comparisons, but seeing the extent to which certain conflicts attract significantly more attention than others. I only hope that this present century is different, but I have my doubts. I think the world that Thomas Hobbes described is still very much the one we live in.-Adam
