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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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*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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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. |
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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.
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# |
A |
B |
C |
D |
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Casualty Studies |
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Civilian |
Military/
Police |
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Total Deaths |
| 1. |
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
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N/R |
N/R |
461,000 |
| 2. |
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 |
| 3. |
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 |
| 4. |
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 |
N/R |
N/R |
84,040 - 91,703 |
| 5. |
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 |
| 6. |
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 |
N/R |
N/R |
151,000 |
| 7. |
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 |
N/R |
46,452 |
| 8. |
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 |
N/R |
654,965 |
| 9. |
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 |
N/R |
10,800 - 15,100 |
Notes: N/R = Not Reported
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