War is killing fewer people than ever before
The tendency for international news to focus on violent conflict makes it hard not to conclude that the world is getting more dangerous.
But a growing body of evidence suggests the opposite is the case.
Harvard Professor Steven Pinker charted the pacification of human society from pre-history to the 20th Century in The Better Angels of Our Nature and found death rates from conflict falling from 15% per annum to 3%.
Now Oxford University economist Max Roser has charted the available statistics on conflict since 1400 on OurWorldInData.
The chart uses a logarithmic scale for deaths, which means the reduction in conflict mortality rates in the 20th Century is sharper than it appears at first sight.
Author: Mark Jones is Commissioning Editor for the World Economic Forum
Image: Iraqi girls gesture as they celebrate after Iraqi security forces entered the town of Amerli September 1, 2014. REUTERS/ Stringer
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