The number of direct conflicts between states reached its highest level since World War II.
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program recorded 65 active conflicts in 2025, of which the number of interstate conflicts doubled to eight — the highest since data collection began in 1946.
It also documented a stark rise from 187,000 conflict deaths in 2024 to 244,600 in 2025, mostly driven by violence in Sudan. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker argued in 2013 that humanity is becoming less violent and wars rarer, but anthropologists have disputed those claims.
Global peacefulness deteriorated for the 12th consecutive year, the latest Global Peace Index showed, as the economic cost of violence was more than $20 trillion in 2025 — equivalent to 10.5% of global GDP.