There were 65 conflicts involving at least one state recorded worldwide last year, a new high since 1946, according to a study published Tuesday.
The annual "Conflict Trends” report from the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) found that 2025 was also the third-deadliest year for conflict since the Cold War, with more deaths only in 1994 and 2021.
"Usually I'm able to sort of squeeze something positive out of it, but this year it's shocking, the numbers," researcher Siri Aas Rustad told reporters.
The number of conflicts between states also hit a new 80-year peak, doubling from 2024 to eight, with clashes between India and Pakistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Cambodia and Thailand, as well as Russia's ongoing invasion of neighboring Ukraine.The study noted that conflict was becoming more intricate, with many countries involved in battles on multiple fronts and with more actors involved Image: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo/picture alliance
Some 35 countries were involved in fighting, but less than half of them had only one conflict. Israel, for example, was simultaneously party to multiple different conflicts — in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
