Deaths from the War in Iraq - US - Iraq War

Last updated on: 10/28/2013 12:40:58 PM PST

Deaths from the War in Iraq

We have presented a variety of data below to help our readers understand how many US soldiers, Iraqi troops and civilians, and coalition forces have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war in Mar. 2003. The range of deaths in the Iraq War has been estimated at between 56,027 and 654,965. The source for each set of information appears underneath each respective chart or graph.

This information has been difficult to find because most available statistics are not comprehensive and often have differing time ranges, data sets, geographic coverage, definitions, and interests to serve. For example, the US Department of Defense (DoD) has not released numerical values for the number of Iraqi civilian deaths although they have plotted deaths along a line graph giving ballpark mortality estimations. Also, the Iraqi government banned the release of civilian casualty data as of Feb. 2007 which the United Nations had previously used in compiling its statistics on Iraqi civilian mortality.

I. Cumulative US Military Fatalities

II. US Military Fatalities by State

III. US Military Fatalities by Gender, Age, Race, etc.

IV. Hostile vs. Non-Hostile US Military Fatalities

V. Coalition Troop Fatalities by Country

VI. Average Number of Iraqi Deaths per Day

VII. Iraqi Forces & US Military Fatalities, DoD Report

VIII. Iraqi Civilian Fatalities, DoD Report

IX. Average Daily Fatalities by Time Period

X. Chart Comparing Ten Casualty Studies

XI. Related Links

I. Cumulative US Military Fatalities, Mar. 1, 2003 - Aug. 5, 2009 - This graph represents the increasing total of US troop deaths in Iraq from the start of the conflict in March 2003 through August 5, 2009.

Chart with cumulative US military fatalities from March 1 2003 to August 5 2009

Sources: iCasualties

"Coalition Casualty Count" (225 KB)

Aug. 5, 2009; US Department of Defense (DoD)

"Defense Link News" (11 KB)

Aug. 5, 2009

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II. US Military Fatalities by State- This graph shows the state of residence of US troops who died in Iraq from the start of the conflict in March 2003 through May 22, 2008. There were 4,079 total US military fatalities.

Chart State-by-stat US troops who died in Iraq from the start of the conflict in March 2003 through May 22 2008

Source: iCasualties

"Coalition Casualties By State Map" (74 KB)

May 12, 2008

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III. US Military Fatalities by Gender, Age, Race, etc.- This chart breaks down US military fatalities in Iraq by gender, status, age, type of duty, and race/ethnicity for all fatalities between March 19, 2003 and May 3, 2008.

Chart US military fatalities in Iraq by gender status age type of duty and race ethnicity for all fatalities between March 19 2003 and May 3 2008

Sources: US Department of Defense (DoD)

"Operation Iraqi Freedom Military Deaths" (12 KB)

May 3, 2008

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IV. Hostile vs. Non-Hostile US Military Fatalities - These graphs represent the number and percentage of hostile (3,310) versus non-hostile (749) US military fatalities in Iraq from March 19, 2003 through May 3, 2008.

Graph hostile vs non-hostile US military fatalities

Sources: US Department of Defense (DoD)

"Global War on Terrorism - Operation Iraqi Freedom" (12 KB)

May 3, 2008
Notes: Pending means final category to be determined later

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V. Coalition Troop Fatalities by Country- These graphs represent the number of coalition troop fatalities by country from the start of the conflict in March 2003 through April 24, 2008. There were a total of 4,049 US and 310 coalition fatalities from other countries.

Graph coalition troop fatalities by country

Source: Brookings Institution

"The Iraq Index Report" (654 KB)

Apr. 24, 2008
Notes: Many of the 20 coalition members do not clearly show on this graph because they represent a relatively small portion of the overall coalition troop fatalities.

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VI. Average Number of Iraqi Deaths per Day*- This graph compares the four out of nine studies from our Casualty Studies Chart that have comparable data for Iraqi civilian and military/police deaths. It has been updated to reflect new data from the Brookings Institution and iCasualties' most recent reports, but because of a ban established by the Iraq government in Feb. 2007 prohibiting the release of civilian casualty data, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) civilian mortality estimates have not been updated as of June, 11, 2008. The UNAMI report was revised from 102 to 104 average daily Iraqi deaths based on a prior miscalculation. Additionally, as of June 11, 2008 an update of the Johns Hopkins University/Al Mustansiriya University study is not available.

*ProCon.org generated the daily death averages above by dividing each study's total number of deaths by the number of days covered in the study. Where the time span for Iraqi civilians and Iraqi military differed within the same study, we extrapolated the average of the smaller time span to equal the number of days in the larger time span. The time span covered in each report varies, and although some periods of the war had higher casualty rates than others, this graph does not account for those temporal fluctuations.

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VII. Iraqi Forces and US Military Deaths in Iraq, Department of Defense Report- This graph is a duplication of the Department of Defense's "Iraqi Forces and US Military Deaths in Iraq January 2006 - February 2006" chart which displays US and Iraqi troop deaths by month. As a result, the formatting is slightly different than our other presentations.

Iraqi and US force deaths in Iraq January 2006 to February 2008

Source: US Department of Defense (DoD)

"Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" (564 KB)

Mar. 7, 2008
Notes: The Department of Defense has not released numerical values for points within this graph as of June 9, 2008.

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VIII. Iraqi Civilian Casualties, Department of Defense Report- This graph is a duplication of the Department of Defense's "Civilian Deaths January 2006 - February 2008" chart which displays Iraqi civilian deaths by month. As a result, the formatting is slightly different than our other presentations.

Iraqi civilian casualties January 2006 to February 2008

Sources: US Department of Defense (DoD)

"Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq"

(564 KB)

Mar. 7, 2008
Notes: The Department of Defense has not released numerical values for Iraqi civilian fatalities as of June 9, 2008.

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IX. Average Daily Casualties by Time Period- A US Department of Defense graph of the average deaths per day of Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security forces, and coalition troops during significant periods in Iraq from April 1, 2004 to May 4, 2007. This chart has not been updated to reflect new data because the Department of Defense has not updated this chart published in June 2007 as of June 10, 2008.

Average daily casualties by time period in Iraq

Source: US Department of Defense (DoD)

"Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq"

(564 KB)

June 7, 2007;
Multi-national Corps-Iraq (MNC-1)

Notes: Casualty data reflect updated data for each period and are derived from unverified initial reports submitted by Coalition elements responding to an incident; the inconclusivitiy of these numbers constrains them to be used only for comparative purposes.
Operation FAQ: Operation Fardh al-Qanoon; translates as "Enforcing the Law."

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X. Chart Comparing Ten Casualty Studies- This chart compares the total death count from ten casualty studies of the Iraq War. We have listed the deaths of Iraqi civilian, Iraqi military/police, U.S. military, and coalition military forces whenever that information was available. The studies cover differing time periods and population groups and use a variety of methodologies.

Casualty Studies

Iraqi Deaths
Civilian	Military/ Police

Military Forces
U.S.	Coalition

Total Deaths

Study Title: Mortality in Iraq Associated with the 2003-2011 War and Occupation: Findings from a National Cluster Sample Survey by the University Collaborative Iraq Mortality Study (2.52 MB)

Date Range of Study: Mar. 1, 2003-June 30, 2011
Source: Amy Hagopian, PhD, et al.

PLOS Medicine, Oct. 15, 2013

461,000

N/R

461,000

Study Title: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count (484 KB)

Date Range of Study: Mar. 20, 2003-June 10, 2008
Source: iCasualties.org

June 10, 2008

43,354
(1/05-6/10/08)

8,265

4,095

313

56,027

Study Title: Iraq Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & security in Post- Saddam Iraq (654 KB)

Date Range of Study: Mar. 19, 2003-Apr. 24, 2008
Source: Brookings Institution

Apr. 24, 2008

104,317
(5/03-04/27/08)

8,199
(6/03-4/27/08)

4,049

309

116,874

Study Title: Documented Civilian Deaths from Violence (197 KB)

Date Range of Study: Jan. 1, 2003-May 20, 2008
Source: Iraq Body Count

May 20, 2008

84,040 - 91,703

N/R

84,040 - 91,703

Study Title: 4,000 Fallen: Iraq Casualties since March 2003153KB;
Five Years in Iraq - Quality of Life - Civilian Death (153 KB)

Date Range of Study: Mar. 2003-May 19, 2008
Source: Associated Press (AP)

May 19, 2008

39,112
(4/05-3/11/08)

N/R

4,080

N/R

43,192

Study Title: Violence Related Mortality from 2002-2006 - Iraq Family Health Survey (282 KB)

Date Range of Study: 2002-2006
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

The New England Journal of Medicine, Jan. 31, 2008

151,000
(3/03-6/06)

N/R

151,000

Study Title: UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Human Rights Report (253 KB)

Date Range of Study: 2003-Dec. 31, 2006
Source: UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)

Dec. 31, 2006

Note: As of Feb. 2007, Iraq government representatives have banned the release of civilian casualty data preventing UNAMI from updating its civilian mortality estimates. In this report, UNAMI as stated in this report sought a reversal of the ban, encouraging the Iraqi Ministry of Health to release data.UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Human Rights Report - 1 April-June 2007

34,452
(1/1/06-12/31/06)

12,000

N/R

46,452

Study Title: The Human Cost of War in Iraq: A Mortality Study, 2002-2006 (603 KB)

Date Range of Study: Mar. 2003-July 2006
Source: Johns Hopkins University

and Al Mustansiriya University

Oct. 12, 2006

(Read our question on the pros and cons of this study's reliability)

Note: No update is available for this study as of June 11, 2008

654,965

N/R

654,965

Study Title: US Military Fatalities in Iraq: Year 3 (268 KB)

Date Range of Study: Mar. 19, 2003-Mar. 19, 2006
Source: Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)

Summer 2006

Note: No update is available for this study as of May, 20 2008.

32,000+

2,318

N/R

34,318+

10.

Study Title: The Wages of War, Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict (225 KB)

Date Range of Study: Mar. 19, 2003-Oct. 20, 2003
Source: Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA)

Oct. 20, 2003

Note: No update is available for this study as of June 11, 2008

3,200-4,300

7,600-10,800

N/R

10,800 - 15,100

Notes: N/R = Not Reported

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