Conflicts on rise globally, highest level since WWII, data shows

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. World Conflicts on rise globally, highest level since WWII, data shows June 9, 20263:00 AM ET By Kate Bartlett This aerial photo shows displaced Gazans walking toward Gaza City on January 27, 2025, after crossing the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip. via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption via Getty Images JOHANNESBURG — If you've been thinking it seems like there are more wars raging in the world these days, it turns out you're right and the data proves it. A new study by researchers at a university in Sweden recorded the highest number of conflicts between states in 2025 since World War II, and the highest number of fatalities recorded since the Rwandan genocide.

There were 65 active conflicts in 2025, according to researchers at the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at Uppsala University, regarded as a leading source of information on violence worldwide. Out of that total, the number of direct conflicts between individual states doubled from the previous year to eight in 2025 — the highest number of such conflicts since UCDP began collecting data in 1946. They included the wars between Russia and Ukraine and between Iran and Israel, as well as conflicts between India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia, and Israel's conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

The Details

The final two are: the border conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the conflict in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden between the U. against Yemen's Houthis. Sponsor Message Middle East conflict Skeletons in their clothing: Recovering bodies from the rubble in Gaza "We are seeing a clear increase in conflicts between states.

For a long time, interstate wars were relatively rare, but developments in recent years point to growing international tensions and a changing global security order," said Shawn Davies, a senior analyst at UCDP. The rest of the 65 were all intrastate conflicts — government forces fighting rebel groups within the country. Most conflict deaths since Rwanda A displaced woman rests in Tawila, in the country's war-torn western Darfur region, on Oct.

28, 2025, after fleeing El Fasher following the city's fall to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption via Getty Images Fatalities were the highest on record since 1994, with approximately 244,600 people killed in conflict in 2025, the data shows. That's up from 187,000 deaths in 2024.

What Experts Say

"It is not only a story of more conflicts, but also of extremely high levels of lethal violence. Most notably, we see a dramatic increase in violence directed against civilians, particularly in Sudan," said Therése Pettersson, senior analyst and project manager at UCDP. The researchers break down the data into several categories.

One is "state-based violence," which includes both internal, civil wars and "interstate wars," meaning wars between nations.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.