In 2025, the world saw the highest number of conflicts between states since the Second World War, according to a Norwegian study on Tuesday, warning of an increase in attacks targeting civilians.
The annual “Conflict Trends” report from the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) indicates that 65 conflicts involving at least one state were recorded around the world last year, a new record since 1946.
Interstate conflicts also hit a new 80-year high, doubling from the previous year to eight – including border clashes between India and Pakistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Cambodia and Thailand, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israeli military operations against Syria.
“Unfortunately, there are not many positive things,” researcher Siri Aas Rustad told a group of media, including AFP.
“Usually I can get something positive out of it, but this year the numbers are shocking.”
Last year was the third deadliest since the end of the Cold War, with around 245,000 deaths directly linked to fighting or political violence, including nearly 76,500 attributed to attacks directly targeting civilians, compared to 14,200 in 2024.
The sharp increase in civilian deaths is due to conflict between the army and paramilitaries in Sudan, where the siege and massacres in the town of El-Fasher in the Darfur region are estimated to have left some 60,000 dead.
Since the end of the Cold War, only the years 1994 and 2021 have seen more bloodshed, due to the genocide in Rwanda and the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, respectively.
Africa most affected
“What has happened over the last five or six years is that several major conflicts are happening at the same time, and they seem to be one after the other. The world has no respite,” Rustad said.
“And it’s different than before: this continued level of high-intensity conflict on a global scale.”
The PRIO study is based on figures compiled by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), attached to Uppsala University.
It distinguishes 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 the first type of conflict, with 29, followed by Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Europe.
Rustad said Israel was “clearly one of the most aggressive countries in the world right now,” highlighting its involvement in different types of conflicts in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, against Iran and against the Houthi rebels.
She also pointed the finger at the United States, saying President Donald Trump’s return to power had led to “not only attacks and increased violence, but also the trade barriers they are erecting.”
“We are putting a brake on collaboration. The (UN) Security Council is not functioning at the moment. We find ourselves in a much more polarized world,” she said.
