2025 Sets Record for State-Based Conflicts Since WWII

The world experienced more state-based conflicts in 2025 than at any time since the end of World War II, according to new research released Tuesday. The findings from two leading conflict research groups also show a dramatic surge in violence against civilians, making last year one of the deadliest in decades.

The annual Conflict Trends report by the Peace Research Institute Oslo, based on data from Sweden's Uppsala Conflict Data Program, recorded 65 state-based conflicts worldwide in 2025, the highest number since systematic records began in 1946. Within that total, the number of direct conflicts between states doubled from the previous year to eight, the highest level in eight decades. These included the wars between Russia and Ukraine and between Iran and Israel, as well as border clashes involving India and Pakistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand, and Israeli military operations in Syria.

Researchers described the findings as alarming and unprecedented in recent history. Last year was the third deadliest since the end of the Cold War, with approximately 245,000 people killed in fighting or political violence. Nearly 76,500 of those deaths were linked to...