The Deadliest War in this Century was in Congo

Super fact 95 : More than 4-5 million people died in Congo Civil War 1998 to 2003 and its aftermath (until 2007). In addition, some of the other of the deadliest wars in the 21st century are not well known.

Below : 21st Century death toll from different wars, current and recent.

The graphics include colored circles corresponding to 15 wars. The conflicts are Second Congo Civil war 4 million deaths, Syrian Civil War 600 thousand deaths, Second Sudanese Civil War 450 thousand deaths, Russo-Ukrainian War 415 thousand deaths, War in Darfur 400 thousand deaths, South Sudanese Civil War 380 thousand deaths, Mexican drug war 375 thousand deaths, Yemeni civil war 370 thousand deaths, War in Afghanistan 360 thousand deaths, Boko Haram 350 thousand deaths, Iraqi war 285 thousand deaths, Colombia 225 thousand deaths, Chechen 150 thousand deaths, Angola 100 thousand deaths, Israel-Gaza War 75 thousand deaths, Israeli-Arab Total 80 thousand deaths.
The number of deaths cited in the graphics above correspond to rough midpoint values of the estimates for the 21st century. K stands for one thousand deaths. The area of the circles corresponds to these midpoint estimates. See the list of conflicts under “Deadliest twenty first Century Wars”.

Notes on the graphics above:

  • The 16 wars included in the graphics above roughly correspond to the deadliest wars in the 21st century. However, a few of the wars included in the graphics are not among the 16 deadliest wars of the 21st century.
  • Some of the wars included above started in the 20th century. The number of deaths estimates corresponds to the portions that happened in the 21st century.
  • The number of deaths from the Congo Civil War include famine and plagues that resulted from the war.
  • I had a hard time finding an estimate for just the 21st century portion of the Congo Civil War. However, the vast majority of the deaths happened in the 21st century.
  • The death estimates for the Russo-Ukrainian War might be underestimated due to unreliable reporting by Russian authorities.
  • The Israeli-Gaza war may seem smaller than expected. However, media attention does not necessarily correspond to the size of the devastation of a conflict.
  • The estimate for the number of deaths for the current Iran-US-Israel war is between 3,600 to nearly 5,400 deaths, which is too small to be part of this post.
  • There are / were hundreds of wars and conflicts in the 21st century.

I consider this a super fact because it is true, an important history fact and despite the enormous losses in the Congo Civil War a lot of people do not know much about it and may not even have heard about it.

The Deadliest War in this Century was in Congo
Photo by Safi Erneste on Pexels.com

Deadliest Wars in the Twenty First Century

  • The Second Congo Civil War 1998 to 2007. With an estimated 3 million to 5.4 million deaths. Read about it here, here, or here.
  • The Syrian civil war 2011 to 2024. With an estimated 580 thousand to 610 thousand deaths.
  • Second Sudanese Civil War 1983 to 2005. With an estimated 2 million deaths in total, with 300,000 to 600,000 deaths occurring in 21st century.
  • Tigray War 2020 to 2022. With an estimated 160 thousand to 600 thousand deaths.
  • War in Darfur 2003 to 2020. With an estimated 400 thousand deaths.
  • Russo-Ukrainian War 2014 to present. With an estimated 350 thousand to 480 thousand deaths.
  • Mexican drug war 2006 to present. With an estimated 350 thousand to 400 thousand deaths.
  • South Sudanese Civil War 2013 to 2020. With an estimated 380 thousand deaths.
  • Yemeni civil war 2014 to present. With an estimated 370 thousand deaths.
  • War in Afghanistan 2001–2021. With an estimated 360 thousand deaths.
  • Boko Haram insurgency 2009 to present. With an estimated 350 thousand deaths.
  • Iraqi war 2003 to 2017. With an estimated 270 thousand to 300 thousand deaths.
  • Colombian conflict 1964 to present. With an estimated 450 thousand deaths but with about half of those deaths happening in the intense fighting of the 21st century.
  • Chechen conflict 1994 to 2009. With an estimated 80 thousand to 230 thousand deaths, most  of those, 150 thousand, happening in the 21st century.
  • Angolan Civil War  1975 to 2002. With an estimated 800 thousand deaths many in the final years of the conflict with an estimated 100 thousand in the 21st century.
  • Burundian Civil War 1993 to 2005. With an estimated 550 thousand to 800 thousand deaths, many in the final years of the conflict with an estimated 50 thousand deaths in the 21st century.
  • The Arab Israeli conflict 1948 to present (multiple wars) . With an estimated 200 thousand deaths in total with 80 thousand deaths happening in the 21st century.
  • The Israel Gaza conflict (2023 to present). With an estimated 75 thousand deaths.

To read related posts of mine see “We are living in relatively peaceful times“ and “Deadliest Civil War Was the Taiping Rebellion”.

To see the other Super Facts click here

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

35 thoughts on “The Deadliest War in this Century was in Congo”

    1. You are right it seems like we are not learning from the past. However, it was much worse in the last century, especially the first half, and the one before that was much worse, but we are far from done with this one.

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  5. So many countries are attacking congo due to its rich in essential minerals like colbat, coltan that’s essential for many tech companies, people suffer in mineral sites and work hard while payments are so low to even meet their own needs…

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    1. Good question. The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. That’s a good song. It is interesting that so many of these big and devastating wars were almost never reported on. You have to look it up to find out, or you won;t know.

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  7. This is a sobering but important super fact. It really highlights how American news can really gloss over many important and tragic human events. I remember hearing about the war in the Congo, but did not realize there had been so much loss of life.

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    1. Yes you are right, and it is not just American news. It is the same in Europe. Some conflicts are more newsworthy than others for various reasons. News is a business after all and it is difficult for people to keep track of all the wars and conflicts. It is good to remember that the wars and conflicts in the news aren’t necessarily the worst ones.

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  8. Java Bean: “Ayyy, sí, our Dada was reading about this war in The New Yorker a while back. He knew about it but had no idea it was as bad as it was. And scary to think, it’s only the deadliest war in this century so far …”
    Lulu: “Don’t say stuff like that, Bean!”

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  10. Pingback: Post Of The Week 6-Apr-2026 – BeingKevin

    1. Thank you Diana. It is very common that people have not heard of many of these wars and that goes for me too, until I looked it up. There are so many extremely devastating wars that don’t get a lot of media attention in the West.

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  12. It’s no surprise we’re in end times. Look what man has done to God’s world. Staggering stats!

    Btw, one of my good friends in gym today was wearing a Tshirt that said “Ice Hotel, Sweden”. I said, ‘get out, you were there?’ She said yes and she’s going to show me pictures. I told her I already saw pictures, lol. She couldn’t believe I knew about it. See, we learn from each other. 🤣

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    1. Yes you are right Debby. A lot of these wars are pretty devastating and get almost no news coverage. It is very cool that you met someone who has been at Ice Hotel. I should say you have an Ice Hotel not too far from you, in Quebec. The one in northern Sweden is the biggest one and the oldest one though.

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      1. Wow Thomas. Thanks for letting me know we have one in our own country, lol. Nonetheless, I enjoy reading about, but have no interest in sleeoing on a block of ice at this time, lol 😂

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        1. So you have no interest in sleeping on an ice block. Well, you’d miss out on an adventure. However, you could always stay at a hotel nearby and visit during the day, just to see the ice art and the rooms. I assume they do the same as the ice hotel in Sweden, let you visit and look at the rooms before check in time (I think it was around 3PM).

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        1. Yes you are right. I’ve posted before about that there is less war and violence than it used to be, that there is less disease, poverty, and famine, now a day. However, the last few years have seen an uptick of all the bad stuff. We aren’t quite back to the World War II, the Indochina wars, or the famine of the great leap forward, but it is worrying that the trend down of all the bad stuff has taken a turn back up lately.

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