Conflict barometer

This is how many wars are currently being fought worldwide

The city of Gaza lies in ruins after Israeli attacks.

(Bild: Associated Press)

Conflict researchers have registered an increase in conflicts over the past year. A total of 369 conflicts were recorded, ten more than in the previous year, and the number of wars rose by 2 to 22, the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research announced on Thursday.

For example, the conflicts in Israel with the Palestinians and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah escalated into wars. Six wars de-escalated, while 14 wars continued, according to the Conflict Barometer 2023.

The majority of conflicts at domestic level
The most frequent conflicts were intra-state conflicts (252 conflicts), followed by inter-state conflicts (58 conflicts). The most common conflicts were over ideologies or systems, followed by resources.

Most wars rage in sub-Saharan Africa
As in the previous year, sub-Saharan Africa - the southern part of Africa - was the region with the most wars, the researchers wrote. A total of 13 wars were observed there.

Number of wars in Europe has doubled
In Europe, the number of wars has risen from one to two: In addition to the Russia-Ukraine war, the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region escalated into a war.

The Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research was founded in 1990 and aims to record conflict events around the world as accurately as possible and provide conflict research with data sets for further analysis.