Global violence on the rise: World sees highest number of armed conflicts since 1946

2024 was the year with the most armed conflicts since 1946, with 61 conflicts in 36 countries. This represents a record not seen since the post-World War II period. This was shown in the report “Conflict Trends: A Global Overview” from PRIO.

Siri Aas Rustad, research director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and lead author of the report, noted that the "world today is much more violent and fragmented than it was a decade ago."

Similarly, the study detailed that now is not the time for the United States, nor any world power, to withdraw from international engagement. "Isolationism in the face of rising global violence would be a profound mistake with long-term human life consequences," PRIO highlighted.

The report detailed that there were some 129,000 combat-related deaths in 2024, similar to 2023. Both years are the deadliest since the end of the Cold War (1989), exceeding the annual average for the past three decades. The record indicated that the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine claimed approximately 76,000 lives.

The paper noted that in nine countries, there were three or more conflicts. This reflects a growing complexity in global conflict dynamics, "where state fragility, transnational actors and local grievances fuel overlapping crises that are harder to contain, let alone resolve."

"What is increasingly alarming is the multiplication of conflicts within individual countries. More than half of all conflict-affected states now face two or more separate state-based conflicts, which are internal conflicts where the government is one of the warring parties," the organization explained.

The report also noted that increased activity by terrorist groups has been a central factor in the persistence and emergence of new pockets of violence. While the Islamic State (ISIS) continued to operate in at least 12 countries, other organizations such as Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) expanded their reach, being present in five West African nations during 2024.