List of anthropogenic disasters by death toll

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Death toll estimates for some of the deadliest wars

This is a list of events that have caused a measurable drop in the total human population. The list covers the name of the event, location and the start and end of each event. Some events may belong in more than one category. In addition, some of the listed events overlap each other, and in some cases the death toll from a smaller event is included in the one for the larger event or time period of which it was part.

There is often large uncertainty about the death tolls. The tables are initially sorted by the geometric mean, meaning the square root of the product of the lowest and highest estimate, of the cumulative number of deaths, for example, for a lowest estimate of 500 and highest of 2000 dead since the start of the war or disaster.

War[edit]

Wars and armed conflicts[edit]

Main article: List of wars by death toll

This section lists all wars and major conflicts in which the highest-estimated casualties exceeds 100,000. This includes deaths of both soldiers, civilians, etc. from causes both directly and indirectly caused by the war, which includes combat, disease, famine, massacres, suicide, and genocide.

Event Lowest
estimate		 Highest
estimate 		Geometric mean estimate[1] Location Start End Duration Notes, see also
World War II 35,000,000[2] 118,357,000[3] 64,362,217 Worldwide 1939 1945 6 years and 1 day See also: World War II casualties.
Mongol invasions and conquests 30,000,000[4] 57,000,000[a] 41,352,146 Eurasia 1206 1405 199 years See also: Mongol Empire, Destruction under the Mongol Empire, Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire
Taiping Rebellion 20,000,000[12] 30,000,000[12] 28,284,271 China 1850 1864 14 years A civil war in China. See also: Qing dynasty, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
European colonization of the Americas 8,400,000[13] 80,000,000[14][15] 25,922,963 Americas 1492 1691 199 years European exploration & subsequent settlement of the Americas death toll estimates vary due to lack of consensus as to the demographic size of the native population pre-Columbus, which might never be accurately determined. The 90% death rate was mainly caused by disease.[b] Vast depopulation contributed to Little Ice Age.[18]
Transition from Ming to Qing 25,000,000[19] 25,000,000 25,000,000 China 1618 1683 65 years See also: Qing dynasty
World War I 15,000,000 32,500,000[20][21]+[22] 22,079,402 Worldwide 1914 1918 4 years, 3 months, 1 week Military conflict lasting from 1914 to 1918 between two opposing alliances – the Entente and the Central Powers. See also: World War I casualties
Second Sino-Japanese War 18,000,000[23] 22,000,000[24] 19,899,748 China 1937 1945 8 years, 1 month, 3 weeks and 5 days
An Lushan Rebellion 13,000,000 13,000,000[25] 13,000,000 China 755 763 8 years A civil war in Tang China. Also known as the An–Shi rebellion.
Dungan Revolt 10,000,000[citation needed] 10,000,000[citation needed] 10,000,000 China 1862 1877 15 years Civil war in China. See also: Qing dynasty
Chinese Civil War 8,000,000[26] 11,692,000[27] 9,671,401 China 1927 1949 14 years[c] Major civil war in China that led to the foundation of a communist state
Russian Civil War 5,000,000[citation needed] 9,000,000[28] 6,708,204 Russia 1917 1921 5 years See also: Russian Revolution, List of civil wars
Thirty Years' War 4,500,000 8,000,000[29][30] 6,000,000 Europe (primarily Holy Roman Empire) 1618 1648 30 years Initially a religious war between Catholics and breakaway Protestant secular principalities, it became a general European political war. It was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history.
Napoleonic Wars 3,500,000[31] 7,000,000[32] 4,949,747 Europe, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean 1803 1815 13 years See also: Napoleonic Wars casualties secular revolutionary invasions of religious principalities, kingdoms & empires
Yellow Turban Rebellion 3,000,000[33] 7,000,000[33] 4,582,576 China (Han dynasty) 184 205 21 years See also: End of the Han dynasty
Second Congo War 2,500,000[34] 5,400,000[35] 3,674,235 Democratic Republic of the Congo 1998 2003 6 years See also: First Congo War
French Wars of Religion 2,000,000 4,000,000[36][unreliable source?] 2,828,427 France 1562 1598 37 years Largely a secular war staged as a religious war between Catholics and breakaway Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants).
Hundred Years' War 2,300,000[37] 3,300,000[38] 2,754,995 Western Europe 1337 1453 116 years Edwardian War (1337–1360), Caroline War (1369–1389), Lancastrian War (1415–1453)
Korean War 1,500,000[39] 4,500,000[39] 2,598,076 Korean Peninsula 1950 1953 4 years Part of the Cold War.
Qin's wars of unification 2,000,000 2,000,000[40] 2,000,000 China 230 BCE 221 BCE 9 years See also: History of China[41][42]
Vietnam War 966,000[43] 3,800,000[44] 1,915,933 Southeast Asia 1955 1975 20 years Cold War and First Indochina War
Mughal–Maratha Wars 600,000 5,600,000 1,833,030 India 1680 1707 27 years
Crusades 1,000,000[45][unreliable source?] 3,000,000[46][unreliable source?] 1,732,051 Holy Land, Europe 1095 1291 196 years Initially defense of the Byzantine Empire from Islam by western Christian Kingdoms followed by defense of subsequent fiefdoms in the Holy Land / Middle East.
Nigerian Civil War 1,000,000 3,000,000[47] 1,732,051 Nigeria 1966 1970 4 years Ethnic cleansings of the Igbo people followed by Civil War.
Mfecane 1,500,000[48] 2,000,000[49] 1,732,051 Southern Africa 1816 1828 13 years Ndwandwe–Zulu War
Punic Wars 1,250,000[50] 1,850,000 1,520,691 Medi­terranean 264 BC 146 BC 118 years See also: Carthage, Roman Republic
Second Sudanese Civil War 1,000,000[51] 2,000,000 1,414,214 Sudan 1983 2005 23 years First Sudanese Civil War
Seven Years' War 868,000 1,400,000 1,102,361 Worldwide 1756 1763 7 years
Soviet–Afghan War 600,000[52][unreliable source?] 2,000,000[52][unreliable source?] 1,095,445 Afghanistan 1980 1988 9 years Part of the War in Afghanistan and categorized as a proxy war during the Cold War.
Japanese invasions of Korea 1,000,000[53] 1,000,000 1,000,000 Korea 1592 1598 7 years
French Revolutionary Wars 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 Worldwide 1792 1802 10 years
Mexican Revolution 500,000[54] 2,000,000[54] 1,000,000 Mexico, United States 1911 1920 10 years Includes Pancho Villa's raids and the Columbus Raid.
Panthay Rebellion 890,000[citation needed] 1,000,000 943,398 China 1856 1873 18 years
Wars of the Three Kingdoms 876,000 876,000 876,000 British Isles 1639 1651 12 years
Conquests of Mehmed II 873,000 873,000 873,000[citation needed] Eastern Europe 1451 1481 30 years
Ethiopian Civil War 500,000 1,500,000 866,025 Ethiopia 1974 1991 17 years
Jewish–Roman wars 350,000 2,000,000 836,660 Roman Empire 66 136 70 years See also: Roman Empire
American Civil War 650,000 1,000,000 806,226 South­eastern United States and Pennsylvania 1861 1865 4 years See also: United States
Indian Rebellion of 1857 806,000+ 806,000+ 806,000+ India 1857 1858 1 year
Bangladesh Liberation War 200,000 3,000,000 774,597 Bangladesh 1971 1971 1 year See also: 1971 Bangladesh genocide
Algerian War 350,000 1,500,000 724,569 Algeria 1954 1962 7 years, 4 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days [55]
War of the Spanish Succession 400,000 1,251,000 707,390 Europe, North America, South America 1702 1714 12 years
Spanish Civil War 500,000 1,000,000 707,107 Spain 1936 1939 4 years
Eighty Years' War 230,000 2,000,000 678,233 The Low Countries, South America, Caribbean Sea, East and Southeast Asia 1568 1648 80 years
Gallic Wars 400,000[citation needed] 1,000,000 632,456 France 58 BCE 50 BCE 9 years See also: Roman Empire
Spanish American wars of independence 600,000 600,000 600,000 Americas 1808 1833 25 years
Syrian civil war 580,000 613,407 596,470 Syria 2011 Present 13 years
Iran–Iraq War 289,220
[citation needed] 		1,100,000
[citation needed] 		564,041 Iran–Iraq border 1980 1988 8 years Iran claims: 123,220 KIA + 11,000 civilians
Iraq claims: 105,000 KIA + 50,000 in Kurdish Genocide
Others claim 600,000 Iranians killed and 500,000 Iraqis[citation needed]
French invasion of Russia 540,000 540,000 540,000 Russia 1812 1812 5 months, 2 weeks and 6 days Part of the Napoleonic Wars
English Civil War 356,000 735,000 511,527 England 1642 1651 9 years Part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Angolan Civil War 504,158 504,158 504,158 Angola 1975 2002 27 years
First Sudanese Civil War 500,000 500,000 500,000 Sudan 1955 1972 17 years
War on terror 480,000[56] 507,000[56] 493,315 Worldwide 2001 Present years Includes Iraq War, War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), and Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Colombian conflict 450,000[57] 450,000 450,000 Colombia 1964 Present 59 years
Albigensian Crusade 200,000 1,000,000 447,214 Southern France 1208 1229 21 years
First Congo War 250,000 800,000 447,214 Zaire 1996 1997 1 year
Maratha invasions of Bengal 400,000 400,000 400,000 India 1741 1751 10 years
First Indochina War 400,000 400,000 400,000 Southeast Asia 1946 1954 8 years Also known as the Indochina War
Continuation War 387,333 387,333 387,333 Northern Europe 1941 1944 3 years Part of World War II
Somali Civil War 300,000 500,000 387,298 Somalia 1986 Present 35 years
South Sudanese Civil War 383,000 383,000 383,000 South Sudan 2013 2020 7 years
Crimean War 356,000 410,000 382,047 Crimea 1853 1856 3 years
Cuban War of Independence 362,000 362,000 362,000 Cuba 1895 1898 3 years
Iraq War 268,000[56] 461,000[58] 351,494 Iraq 2003 2011 8 years Part of the War on terror. See also: Casualties of the Iraq War
Boko Haram insurgency 350,000 350,000 350,000 Mainly Nigeria, also Cameroon, Niger, Chad 2009 Present 14 years
Great Northern War 350,000 350,000 350,000 Northern and Eastern Europe 1700 1721 21 years
Italian Wars 300,000 400,000 346,410 Southern Europe 1494 1559 65 years Also known as the Great Wars of Italy
Tigray War 162,000 600,000 311,769 Ethiopia 2020 2022 2 years Part of Ethiopian civil conflict
French conquest of Algeria 300,000 300,000 300,000 Algeria 1829 1847 18 years
Burundian Civil War 300,000 300,000 300,000 Burundi 1993 2005 12 years
Yemeni Civil War (2014–present) 233,000 377,000 296,380 Yemen 2014 Present 9 years
War in Darfur 178,258 461,520 286,827 Sudan 2003 Present 18 years
Second Italo-Ethiopian War 278,350 278,350 278,350 Ethiopia 1935 1937 1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days Also known as the Second Italo–Abyssinian War
Paraguayan War 150,000 500,000 273,861 Southern Cone 1864 1870 7 years Military history of South America, Francisco Solano López and Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias
Papua conflict 150,000 400,000 244,949 New Guinea 1963 Present 58 years
Ten Years' War 241,000 241,000 241,000 Cuba 1868 1878 10 years Also known as the Great War
Kalinga War 220,000 250,000 234,521 India 321 BCE 261 BCE 60 years
Philippine–American War 234,000 234,000 234,000 Philippines 1899 1912 13 years Also known as the Philippine War
Venezuelan War of Independence 228,000 228,000 228,000 Venezuela 1810 1823 13 years Part of the Spanish American wars of independence
Ugandan Bush War 100,000 500,000 223,607 Uganda 1981 1986 5 years Also known as the Luwero War
Lord's Resistance Army insurgency 100,000 500,000 223,607 Central Africa 1987 Present 34 years
Franco-Dutch War 220,000 220,000 220,000 Western Europe 1672 1678 6 years Also known as the Dutch War
War in Iraq (2013–2017) 217,500 217,500 217,500 Iraq 2013 2017 4 years
Iraqi–Kurdish conflict 138,800 320,100 210,784 Iraq 1918 2003 85 years
Campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent 200,000 200,000 200,000 Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa 1521 1566 25 years
Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) 200,000 200,000 200,000 Western Europe 1635 1659 24 years
Carlist Wars 200,000 200,000 200,000 Spain 1820 1876 56 years
La Violencia 192,700 194,700 193,697 Colombia 1948 1958 10 years
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) 176,000 212,191 193,250 Afghanistan 2001 2021 20 years
Internal conflict in Myanmar 130,000 250,000 180,278 Myanmar 1948 Present 73 years
Winter War 153,736 194,837 173,071 Finland 1939 1940 1 year Part of World War II
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 77,052 369,981 168,842 Ukraine (with spillover in Russia) February 2022 Present 18 months As of August 2023.
Guatemalan Civil War 140,000 200,000 167,332 Guatemala 1960 1996 36 years
Greek Civil War 158,000 158,000 158,000 Greece 1946 1949 3 years
Genocide of Nuba peoples[59] 100,000 200,000 141,421 Sudan 1992 Present 28 years Part of the Second Sudanese Civil War and Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile)[60]
North Yemen Civil War 100,000 200,000 141,421 Yemen 1962 1970 8 years
1991 Iraqi uprisings 85,000 235,000 141,333 Iraq 1991 1991 1 month and 4 days
Balkan Wars 140,000 140,000 140,000 Balkans 1912 1913 1 year Military casualties
Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) 138,285 138,285 138,285 Europe and Americas 1585 1604 19 years
Saint-Domingue Expedition 135,000 135,000 135,000 Haiti 1802 1803 1 year
Yugoslav Wars 130,000 140,000 134,907 Balkans 1991 2001 10 years
Lebanese Civil War 120,000 150,000 134,164 Lebanon 1975 1990 15 years
Sierra Leone Civil War 50,000 300,000 122,474 Sierra Leone 1991 2002 11 years
Great Turkish War 120,000 120,000 120,000 Eastern Europe 1683 1699 16 years Also known as the War of the Holy League
Thousand Days' War 120,000 120,000 120,000 Colombia 1899 1902 3 years
Moro conflict 120,000 120,000 120,000 Philippines 1969 Present 52 years
Arab–Israeli conflict 116,074 116,074 116,074 Middle East 1948 Present 73 years
Mexican drug war 106,800 106,800 106,800 Mexico 2006 Present 15 years Also known as the Mexican War on Drugs
Aceh War 97,000 107,000 101,877 Indonesia 1873 1914 41 years Also known as the Infidel War
Bosnian War 97,214 104,732 100,903 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1991 1995 4 years Part of the Yugoslav Wars
German Peasants' War 100,000 100,000 100,000 Germany 1524 1525 1 year Also known as the Great Peasants' War
Kurdish rebellions in Turkey 100,000 100,000 100,000 Middle East 1921 Present 100 years
Congo Crisis 100,000 100,000 100,000 Republic of the Congo 1960 1965 5 years
Insurgency in Laos 100,000 100,000 100,000 Laos 1975 2007 32 years
Kivu conflict 100,000 100,000 100,000 Democratic Republic of the Congo 2004 Present 17 years Part of the Second Congo War
Kashmir conflict 80,000 110,000 93,808 North India, Pakistan 1947 Present 74 years
Algerian Civil War 44,000 200,000 93,808 Algeria 1991 2002 11 years
Angolan War of Independence 82,991 102,991 92,452 Angola 1961 1974 13 years
Sri Lankan Civil War 80,000 100,000 89,443 Sri Lanka 1983 2009 26 years
Annexation of Hyderabad 30,000 200,000 77,460 India 1948 1948 5 days Also known as Operation Polo
Israeli–Palestinian conflict 51,731 63,647 Levant 1948 Present 78 Years Part of the Arab–Israeli conflict

Mistreatment of civilians during war[edit]

This section lists non-combatant deaths during wars that were purposefully committed or caused by military or quasi-military forces with the intent of harm (deaths due to wartime shortages, for example, are not included as they are a side effect of war). They may not particularly target ethnic, religious, or political groups but are usually part of a military strategy that disregards civilian lives, or they may be arbitrary acts of cruelty. See democide.

Event Lowest estimate Highest estimate Geometric mean estimate[1] Location From Until Duration Notes
War crimes during World War II 29,000,000 30,500,000 29,074,054 Worldwide 1939 1945 6 years See also: World War II casualties.
Japanese war crimes 3,000,000 (lowest estimate to include soldier deaths, famine or disease caused by Japanese imperialism)[61] 14,000,000+[62] 6,480,741 In and around East and South East Asia, Oceania and the Pacific 1931 1945 14 years Japanese war crimes occurred in many Asian and Pacific countries during the period of Japanese imperialism, primarily during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. If total casualties for these conflicts are assigned exclusively to Japanese aggression, the toll could reach some 30 million deaths. These incidents have also been described as an Asian Holocaust[63] and Japanese war atrocities.[64][65][66] Some war crimes were committed by military personnel from the Empire of Japan in the late 19th century, although most took place during the first part of the Shōwa Era, the name given to the reign of Emperor Hirohito, until the surrender of the Empire of Japan, in 1945.[citation needed]
Three Alls policy 2,700,000 2,700,000 2,700,000 China 1940 1942 2 years In a study published in 1996, historian Mitsuyoshi Himeta claims that the Three Alls policy, a scorched-earth policy implemented by the Imperial Japanese Army on China, sanctioned by Emperor Hirohito himself, was both directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of "more than 2.7 million" Chinese civilians.[67]
War crimes during the Chinese Civil War 1,800,000 3,500,000[68] 2,509,980 China 1927 1950 23 years During the war, both Nationalists and Communists carried out mass atrocities, with millions of non-combatants deliberately killed by both sides.[69]
War crimes during the First and Second Sudanese Civil Wars 2,000,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 Sudan 1956 2005 49 years [70]
War crimes during the Soviet–Afghan War 500,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 Afghanistan 1979 1989 10 years Some refer to the mass murder of civilians during the Soviet invasion as a genocide; however, those killed were on the basis of political alignment, making it a politicide.

[71][72]

War crimes of Zhang Xianzhong 1,000,000 1,000,000[73] 1,000,000 Sichuan, China 1644 1646 2 years Committed during a bloody peasant revolt that massacred a large portion of Sichuan's population.[citation needed]
War crimes during Warlord Era China 910,000 910,000 910,000 China 1900 1927 27 years [74]
Mongol sacking after the Siege of Baghdad (1258) 200,000[75] 2,000,000[76] 632,456 Baghdad January 29, 1258 February 10, 1258 12 days Mass slaughter of civilians by the Mongols in Baghdad. Considered to be the end of the "Islamic Golden Age".
Biological warfare and human experimentation by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II 400,000 580,000[77] 481,664 Parts of Russia and China, especially Manchuria 1931 1945 14 years See also: Unit 731 and the Asian Holocaust.
War crimes during the Maratha invasions of Bengal 400,000[78][79] 400,000[78][79] 400,000 Bengal and Bihar regions of Indian subcontinent 1741 1751 10 years Maratha Empire invaded Bengal Subah, occupied the western Bengal and Bihar regions, and perpetrated atrocities against the local population.[78][79]
War crimes during La Violencia 200,000[80] 300,000[80] 244,949 Colombia 1948 1958 10 years

La Violencia was a ten-year period of civil war and violence in Colombia from 1948 to 1958, between the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, fought mainly in the rural countryside. Death toll may include non-civilian victims.

Manila massacre 100,000 500,000 223,607 Manila, Philippines 1945 1945 1 month [81][unreliable source?][82][83][84]
War crimes during the Colombian conflict 177,307 177,307 177,307 Colombia 1964 present 54 years [85]
War crimes during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War 62,000[86][unreliable source?] 485,000[86][unreliable source?] 173,407 Ethiopia 1935 1941 6 years Angelo Del Boca, The Ethiopian War 1935–1941 (1965), cites a 1945 memorandum from Ethiopia to the Conference of Prime Ministers, which tallies 760,300 natives dead; of them: battle deaths: 275,000, hunger among refugees: 300,000, patriots killed during occupation: 78,500, concentration camps: 35,000, February 1937 massacre: 30,000, executions: 24,000, civilians killed by air force: 17,800.[citation needed]
War crimes during the War in the Vendée 100,000[87][88] 250,000[89][90] 158,114 France during the French Revolution 1793 1796 3 years Described as genocide by some historians,[88] but this claim has been widely discounted.[91] See also: French Revolution.
War crimes during the First and Second Chechen Wars 55,000 330,000 134,722 Chechnya 1994 2009 15 years [92][93][94][95]

[96][97]

War crimes during the Iran–Iraq War 61,000 282,000 131,156 Iran and Iraq 1980 1988 8 years 11,000 to 100,000[98] civilians killed on both sides, plus 50 to 182 killed in Kurdish Genocide.
War crimes committed by South Vietnam during the Diem era and Vietnam War 57,000 284,000 127,232 Vietnam 1954 1975 21 years [99]
War crimes during the Syrian civil war 106,390 110,218 108,287 Syria 2011 present 7 years See also: List of massacres during the Syrian civil war
War crimes of the Lord's Resistance Army 100,000 100,000 100,000 Uganda, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo 1986 2009 23 years The Guardian reported in 2015 that Kony's forces had been responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 people and the kidnapping of at least 60,000 children. Various atrocities committed include raping young girls and abducting them for use as sex slaves.[citation needed]
War crimes of the National Islamic Front 100,000 100,000 100,000 Sudan 1964 1999 35 years Alleged human rights abuses by the NIF regime included war crimes, ethnic cleansing, a revival of slavery, torture of opponents, and an unprecedented number of refugees fleeing into Uganda, Kenya, Eritrea, Egypt, Europe and North America.[100]
War crimes during the Papua conflict 100,000[101] 100,000[102] 100,000 West Papua 1963 present 55 years Since Indonesia has taken control of West Papua in 1963, the population of West Papua has recorded more than 100,000 unnatural deaths. The administration of West Papua has been called a police state.[citation needed]
War crimes during the Second Italo-Senussi War 80,000 125,000 100,000 Libya 1923 1932 9 years Specific war crimes alleged to have been committed by the Italian armed forces against civilians include deliberate bombing of civilians, killing unarmed children, women, and the elderly; rape and disembowelment of women; throwing prisoners out of aircraft to their death, running over others with tanks, regular daily executions of civilians in some areas, and bombing tribal villages with mustard gas bombs, beginning in 1930.[citation needed]
War crimes of the Viet Cong 36,725[103] 227,000[104] 91,305 Vietnam 1955 1975 20 years
The Rape of Nanjing
  • 13,000[105]
    (all victims)
  • 5,000[105]
    (civilian massacre victims)
  • 400,000[106]
    (all victims)
  • 100,000[107]
    (civilian massacre victims)
  • 72,111
    (all victims)
  • 22,361
    (civilian massacre victims)
 Nanjing, China 1937 1938 1 year The Nanjing Massacre, commonly known as the Rape of Nanjing, was a war crime committed by the Japanese military in Nanjing, then capital of the Republic of China, after it fell to the Imperial Japanese Army on December 13, 1937. See: Death toll of the Nanjing Massacre.
War crimes during the internal conflict in Peru 61,007[108] [see notes] 77,552[see notes] 68,784[see notes] Peru 1980 2000 20 years In the late 20th century, the Peruvian government (armed forces and civil rondas) fought against communist terrorists in Peru. The principal actors in the war were the Communist Party of Peru or "Shining Path" and the government of Peru; the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was also involved and other paramilitary entities. Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission reached a figure of approx. 68,784 deaths and disappearances, of which 54% were ascribed to Shining Path, 1.5% to Tupac Amaru and 37% to State officials, who were also responsible for 83% of reported cases of sexual violence, and systematic use of torture. An academic research published in 2019 contests the commission's methodology, reaching a total figure of approx. 47,849, of which 27,872 were victims of State officials, 18,341 of the Shining Path, and 1,636 by all other actors.[109][110]
War crimes during the Kashmir Conflict 47,000[111] 100,000[112] 68,557 Kashmir 1947 present 71 years See also: Human Rights Abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, List of massacres in Jammu and Kashmir
War crimes during the Sheikh Said rebellion 15,000

20,000[113]

40,000

250,000[114]

41,618 Turkey 1925 1925 1 month The Sheikh Said Rebellion was a rebellion to revive the Islamic Caliphate System, and used elements of Kurdish nationalism for recruiting.[115] It was led by Sheikh Said and a group of former Ottoman soldiers, known as Hamidiye soldiers. The rebellion was of two Kurdish groups, the Zaza people and the speakers of the related Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish: it "was led specifically by the Zaza population and received almost full support in the entire Zaza region and some of the neighbouring Kurmanji-dominated regions".[116]
War crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War 7,000[117] 169,796[118] 34,476 Sri Lanka 2009 2009 1 year There are allegations that war crimes were committed by the Sri Lankan military and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) during the Sri Lankan Civil War, particularly during the final months of the Eelam War IV phase in 2009. The alleged war crimes include attacks on civilians and civilian buildings by both sides; executions of combatants and prisoners by both sides; enforced disappearances by the Sri Lankan military and paramilitary groups backed by them; acute shortages of food, medicine, and clean water for civilians trapped in the war zone; and child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers.[119][120] See also: Alleged war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War
Violations of human rights in Islamic State-controlled territory Many tens of thousands Many tens of thousands Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Philippines, Nigeria and sporadic terrorism worldwide 2014 present 7 years ISIS has existed as an active terrorist organization in one form or another since at least 2003. Many tens of thousands of casualties in the Iraqi wars of the 21st century can be attributed to them and their parent organizations. See also the death tolls from 2014 onwards in International military intervention against ISIL
War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 10,094 25,094 15,915 Ukraine 2022 present months Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War#Civilian deaths
Sack of Thessalonica (904) 15,000 15,000[121] 15,000 Byzantine Empire 904 904 ? The sack of the second city of the Byzantine Empire by a Muslim fleet under the command of Leo of Tripoli. In addition to the thousands killed, the Saracen fleet also took 20,000 Greek slaves.[citation needed]
War crimes in the Tigray War 2,316 52,000 10,974 Tigray, Ethiopia 2020 present over 2 years Casualties of the Tigray War#Total deaths
Use of child soldiers in Iran during the Iran–Iraq War 6,000 18,000 10,392 Iran 1980 1988 8 years 3% of 2–600,000 casualties.[122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131]
Massacres during the Algerian Civil War 10,000 10,000 10,000 Algeria 1991 2002 11 years [132][133]
War crimes during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war 6,856[134] 8,651[135] 7,701 Syria September 2015 present 4 years [136] See also: Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War.
War crimes during the Balochistan conflict 7,628 7,628 7,628 Balochistan, Pakistan 1937 present 81 years [137][unreliable source?][138][139]
September 11 attacks 2,977 2,977 2,977 United States September 11, 2001 September 11, 2001 1 day [140]
War crimes during the Russo-Ukrainian War 2,000 2,000 2,000 Donbas, Ukraine 2014 Present 7 years [141]
Sabra and Shatila massacre 460[142] 3,500[143] 1,269 West Beirut, Lebanon September 16, 1982 September 18, 1982 2 days Massacre of a Palestinian refugee camp by Lebanese Christians.
Vukovar massacre 260 260 260 Croatia November 20, 1991 November 20, 1991 1 day Massacre of Croatian prisoners of war by Serb paramilitaries.
Fort Pillow massacre 235 235 235 Lauderdale County, Tennessee April 12, 1864 April 12, 1864 1 day Death toll includes both U.S. and Confederate dead. U.S. dead includes those both killed in combat and murdered by the Confederates afterwards.
Lawrence Massacre 204 204 204 Douglas County, Kansas August 21, 1863 August 21, 1863 1 day Death toll includes both U.S. and Confederate dead. Deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history until the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.

Political repression[edit]

Abuse of workers, forced laborers and slaves[edit]

This section lists deaths caused by poor labor conditions, executions for not performing labor satisfactorily, and deaths caused by mistreatment of the workforce both in transit and at work locations.

Event Lowest estimate Highest estimate Geometric mean estimate[1] Location From Until Duration Notes
Atlantic slave trade 2,000,000[144] 60,000,000[145] 10,954,451 Africa, the Americas, and the Atlantic 1500s 1800s 200 years
Slavery in the Ottoman Empire 10,500,000[citation needed] 11,250,000[citation needed] 10,868,533 Eurasia, Middle East, North Africa 1450 1800 350 years There is no concrete number for total number of persons killed due to Ottoman slavery, such as the Barbary slave trade, Nogai slave raids, or Zanj Slave Trade.[146][147]
Laogai system 1,500,000[48] 27,000,000[148] 6,363,961 China 1945 1976 31 years Laogai (勞改/劳改), the abbreviation for Láodòng Gǎizào (勞動改造/劳动改造), which means "reform through labor", is a slogan of the Chinese criminal justice system and has been used to refer to the use of penal labour and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC), which once took up more than half of the world's slaves.[citation needed] Laogai is different from laojiao, or re-education through labor, which was an administrative detention for a person who was not a criminal but had committed minor offenses, and was intended to reform offenders into law-abiding citizens.[149] Persons detained under laojiao were detained in facilities that were separate from the general prison system of laogai. Both systems, however, involved penal labor.[citation needed]
Atrocities in the Congo Free State 3,000,000[d] 13,000,000[151] 6,244,998 Congo Free State 1885 1908 23 years Private forces under the control of Leopold II of Belgium carried out mass murders, mutilations, and other crimes against the Congolese in order to encourage the gathering of valuable raw materials, principally rubber. The main cause of the population decline was disease and starvation, which was exacerbated by the social disruption caused by the Free State, such as population displacement and poor treatment. Additionally disease, famine and violence combined to reduce the birth-rate while excess deaths rose.[152] Estimates of the death toll vary considerably because of the lack of a formal census before 1924, but a commonly cited figure of 10 million deaths was obtained by estimating a 50% decline in the total population during the Congo Free State and applying it to the total population of 10 million in 1924.[153]
Trans-Saharan slave trade 3,500,000[154] 6,000,000[154] 4,582,576 Africa 5th century BC 1981 2400 years
Indian Ocean slave trade 17,000,000[155][156] Africa, Middle East, South Asia 25th century BC 1910 4400 years
Gulag system 1,053,829[157][158] 6,000,000[159] 2,514,552 Soviet Union 1930s 1950s 20 years Gulag is an acronym for the organization that administered the forced labor system in the Soviet Union that became a colloquialism in the west for the camps themselves. The system was used to punish criminals, political dissidents, and prisoners of war.[citation needed] There is a growing consensus among scholars that, based on archival data, the number of deaths in the gulag system fall within the range 1.5 to 1.7 million.[160][161][162]
Forced labor in North Korea 400,000 1,500,000 774,597 North Korea 1972 ongoing 49 years [163][164]
Hacienda peonage and chattel slavery 173,000 2,015,000 590,419 Mexico 1900 1920 20 years R.J. Rummel, coiner of the word "democide", estimated the mortality rate for Mexican Peonage, a form of debt labor, by comparing it to similar forced labor systems such as the Soviet Gulag, and then applying and reducing it accordingly to the population of Mexico at the time, coming up with an annual death rate of 69,000.[citation needed]
Forced labor of Koreans by Imperial Japan 270,000 810,000 467,654 Korea and Manchuria 1939 1945 6 years [165]
Forced labour in the Portuguese Empire 325,000 325,000 325,000 Portuguese Empire 1900 1925 25 years [166][unreliable source?]
Barbary slave trade 245,000 380,000 305,123 Italy, Spain, and Portugal 1500s 1600s 100 years [167] – Part of Slavery in the Ottoman Empire
Slavery during the Amazon rubber boom 250,000 250,000 250,000 Amazon, Brazil 1900 1912 12 years [168][unreliable source?]
Construction of the Burma Railway 102,621[169] 102,621[169] 102,621 Burma 1943 1947 4 years

Forced labour was used in the construction of the Burma Railway. More than 180,000 Southeast Asian civilian labourers (Romusha) and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. Of these, estimates of Romusha deaths are little more than guesses, but probably about 90,000 died. 12,621 Allied POWs died during the construction. The dead POWs included 6,904 British personnel, 2,802 Australians, 2,782 Dutch, and 133 Americans.[169]

Forced labour in the French colonial empire 14,000 200,000 52,915 Africa 1900 1940 40 years [170][unreliable source?]
Forced labor of Chinese contract workers in Peru 40,000[171] 50,054[172] 44,746 Peru 1849 1874 26 years 80,000[171] to 100,000[171][172] Chinese contract laborers, 95% of which were Cantonese and almost all of which were male, were sent mostly to the sugar plantations from 1849 to 1874, during the termination of slavery. They were to provide continuous labor for the coastal guano mines and especially for the coastal plantations where they became a major labor force (contributing greatly to the Peruvian guano boom) until the end of the century. While the coolies were believed to be reduced to virtual slaves, they also represented a historical transition from slave to free labor. A third group of Chinese workers was contracted for the construction of the railway from Lima to La Oroya and Huancayo. Chinese migrants were barred from using cemeteries reserved for Roman Catholics, and were instead buried at pre-Incan burial sites.[173] Between 1849 and 1874 half[171][172] the Chinese population of Peru perished due to abuse, exhaustion, and suicide[172] caused by forced labor.[171][172]
Forced labor of Allied POWs during World War II 35,000 35,000 35,000 In and around the Pacific 1939 1945 6 years According to the Japanese military's own record, nearly 25% of 140,000 Allied POWs died while interned in Japanese prison camps, where they were forced to work (U.S. POWs died at a rate of 27%).[174][175]
Forced labor across the Danube-Black Sea Canal in Romania 656 200,000 11,454 Romania 1949 1953 5 years According to Marius Oprea, the death rate among political prisoners at the canal was extremely high; for instance, in the winter of 1951–52, there were one to three detainees dying every day at the Poarta Albă camp, near Galeșu village.[176] The Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania presented an estimate of several thousand deaths among the political prisoners used in the project, significantly higher than 656 officially recorded by an official report from 1968.[177] Journalist Anne Applebaum had previously claimed that over 200,000 had died in its construction,[178][dubious – discuss] as a result of exposure, unsafe equipment, malnutrition, accidents, tuberculosis and other diseases, over-work, etc.,[179] while political analyst Vladimir Socor had estimated the number of deaths to be "considerably in excess of 10,000".[180] According to Andrei Muraru, a historian and adviser to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, the project became known as The Death Canal (Canalul Morții).[181] It has also been called "a cesspool of immense human suffering and mortality".[182] Investigations conducted by the Association of Former Political Prisoners of Romania (AFDPR) Constanța, based on death records from the villages found along the Canal route, indicate 6,355 "Canal workers" (a euphemism for detainees) died during the 1949–1953 period.[183]
Construction of the Suez Canal 938[184] 120,000 10,609 Egypt 1859 1869 10 years French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps had obtained many concessions from Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan in 1854–56 to build the Suez Canal. Some sources estimate the workforce at 30,000,[185] but others estimate that 120,000 workers died over the ten years of construction due to malnutrition, fatigue, and disease, especially cholera.[186]
FIFA World Cup-related abuses of human rights in Qatar 1,200 1,800 1,470 Qatar 2013 ongoing 8 years Out of at least 100,000 laborers.[187]
Rana Plaza factory collapse 1,134 1,134 1,134 Dhaka, Bangladesh 2013 2013 1 day 1,134 workers in the garment factory where reported dead and over 2,500 injured after it collapsed due to poor engineering and neglect of safety guidelines

Genocides, ethnic cleansing, religious persecution[edit]

Main articles: List of genocides by death toll and Genocides in history

This section lists events that entail the mass murder (or death caused by the forced eviction) of individuals on the basis of race, religion, or ethnicity.

Event Lowest estimate Highest estimate Geometric mean estimate[1] Location From Until Duration Notes
Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas 2,000,000[188] 80,000,000[14][15] 12,649,111 America 1492 1996[189][190][191][192] 504 years While estimates for the overall Indigenous death toll vary widely, a study by scientists from University College London estimated that 56 million Indigenous peoples died in the Americas by 1600, accounting for 90% of their total population. The decline was caused primarily by diseases that were previously unknown to the continent, such as smallpox, along with slavery and war. The study also concluded that the resulting disruption of land use was so significant that it affected CO2 levels and affected climate change.[193]

See also: Spanish colonization of the Americas, Encomienda system, Mexican Indian Wars, List of Indian massacres, Putumayo genocide, Amazon rubber cycle

Generalplan Ost (World War II civilian casualties of the Soviet Union) 7,420,135[citation needed] 13,684,448 10,076,728 German-occupied Europe and Russia 1939 1945 6 years Germany's extermination of civilian citizens of the Soviet Union.

Numbers include Jewish victims and overlap with The Holocaust.

The Holocaust 5,100,000[194][195] 7,000,000[196] 5,974,947 German-occupied Europe 1941 1945 4 years The systematic and bureaucratic genocide of European Jews by Germany, and its collaborators, exterminated approximately 1/3 of the global Jewish population, 2/3 of local European. Most commonly cited figures are between approximately 5.9 to 6.3 million killed.[197][198]
Holodomor 2,711,000 7,811,000 4,601,698 Ukraine 1932 1933 1 year The term "Ukrainian Genocide" usually refers to the man-made famine of 1932 through 1933, called the Holodomor, in which the grain of Ukrainians was confiscated to the point where they could not survive off the amount of grain they had, and were also restricted from fleeing their villages to find food under threat of execution or deportation into a Gulag camp.

The term also includes the killing of Ukrainian intelligentsia during the Great Purge.

The main advocate for this view was Raphael Lemkin, creator of the word genocide.

Data from after the opening of the Soviet archives records deaths at 2.4 to 7.5 million in famine, 300,000 during the purge, and 1,100 from the Law of Spikelets.

Some scholars dispute that the famine was deliberately engineered by the Soviet government or that it was a genocide.[199][200][201]

– Part of the Soviet famine of 1930–1933

Nazi crimes against the Polish nation 2,770,000 2,770,000 2,770,000 German-occupied Poland 1941 1945 4 years Genocide of Poles during the invasion of Poland by Germany.
Three Alls policy 2,700,000 2,700,000 2,700,000 China 1940 1942 2 years In a study published in 1996, historian Mitsuyoshi Himeta claims that the Three Alls policy, a scorched earth policy implemented by the Imperial Japanese Army on China, sanctioned by Emperor Hirohito himself, was both directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of "more than 2.7 million" Chinese civilians.[citation needed]– Part of the Japanese war crimes
Cambodian genocide 1,386,734[202] 3,400,000[203] 2,171,381 Democratic Kampuchea 1975 1979 4 years Deaths due to arbitrary torture, execution, starvation, and forced labor among the population of Cambodia under the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, including both killings of ethnic Khmer (the majority ethnic group) as well as a genocide of religious and ethnic minorities by the Khmer Rouge.

Minimum death toll is the number of corpses found in the Killing Fields.[citation needed]
Samuel Totten argues the mass killings were committed by fellow Khmer, and the Khmer were killed more in proportion to their population than other victims of the Khmer Rouge, making it more of a politicide.[204]

These killings have been described as autogenocide or civil genocide.

According to Samuel Totten 1,325,000 ethnic Khmers were killed.

Kazakh famine of 1930–1933 1,500,000 2,300,000 1,857,418 Kazakhstan 1932 1933 1 year – Part of the Soviet famine of 1930–1933
Rwandan and Burundian genocides 974,000 2,347,000 1,511,945 Burundi, Rwanda, and Zaire 1959 1997 38 years Combined death toll of all genocides and other massacres between the Hutus and the Tutsis.

This includes 1959, 1963, 1973 Tutsis Massacres in Rwanda, 1994 Rwandan Genocide, 1996–97 Massacre of Hutus in Zaire, 1972 Ikiza in Burundi, 1988 Hutus massacres, 1993 Burundi Genocide, and Ethnic violence in Burundi Civil War 1993–2006

Population transfer in the Soviet Union 1,124,203 1,912,392 1,466,259 Soviet Union 1920 1951 31 years May include casualties of de-Cossackization.
Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950) 500,000 3,000,000 1,224,745 Eastern Europe 1944 1950 6 years Both direct and indirect deaths of ethnic German civilians and POWs during the redrawing of national borders after World War II.
Armenian genocide 800,000 1,700,000 1,166,190 Ottoman Empire 1914 1918 4 years The first genocide of the 20th century to kill over 1 million people, this event was conducted by the Young Turks government of the Ottoman Empire under the administration of Talaat Pasha, Enver Pasha and Djemal Pasha.
Circassian genocide 600,000 2,000,000 1,095,445 Russian-occupied Circassia 1864 1867 3 years 90–97% of total Circassian population killed or deported by the Russian forces.[205][206][207]
Persecution of Hazaras during the 1888–1893 uprisings of Hazaras 400,000[208] 2,500,000[209] 1,000,000 Afghanistan 1888 1893 5 years Over 60% of the Hazara population were either massacred or displaced in Abdur Rahman Khan's crackdown of the Hazaras.
Punti–Hakka Clan Wars 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 China 1850 1867 17 years After the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom the Qing government cracked down on the Hakka ethnic group for allying with the kingdom slaughtering 30,000 per day. The death toll of the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars is estimated to be 1 million and there was also a mass execution done during the Taiping Rebellion. It is unclear whether these events refer to the Qing crackdown. If this death toll is applied to the estimated death rate, the massacre likely took place over the course of a month.[210][211][212]
1971 Bangladesh genocide 200,000 3,000,000[213] 774,597 East Pakistan March 21, 1971 December 16, 1971 8 months, 2 weeks and 3 days See also: Bangladesh Liberation War, Operation Searchlight, List of massacres in Bangladesh, Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War
Rwandan genocide 500,000 1,100,000 741,620 Rwanda April 7, 1994 July 19, 1994 103 days The Rwandan Genocide may be the fastest killing of a national population in human history in a single annum, with 13% of the population killed in 100 days. If the Genocide had persisted all year at the same rate, then between 50% and 70% of the Rwandan population could have been killed.
French conquest of Algeria 500,000 1,000,000 707,107 Algeria 1830 1903 73 years According to Ben Kiernan, "colonization and genocidal massacres proceeded in tandem." He estimates that within the first three decades (1830–1860) of French conquest, between 500,000 and 1 million Algerians, out of a total of 3 million, died due to war, massacres, disease and famine.[214][215]
Partition of India 200,000 2,000,000 632,456 India 1947 1957 10 years In the riots which preceded the partition in the Punjab Province, it is believed that between 200,000 and 2 million people were killed in the retributive genocide between Hindus and Muslims.[216][217][218]
Romani Genocide 220,000 1,500,000 574,456 Nazi occupied Europe 1941 1945 4 years The genocide of Romani by Nazi Germany and its puppet states.
Dzungar genocide 480,000 600,000 536,656 Dzungar Khanate 1755 1758 3 years The mass extermination of Dzungar Mongols by the Qing dynasty under the order of the Qianlong Emperor.
Greek genocide 289,000 750,000 465,564 Ottoman Empire 1913 1922 9 years Violent ethnic cleansing of Greeks from their historical homeland of Anatolia.
Albigensian Crusade 200,000[219][unreliable source?] 1,000,000[219][unreliable source?] 447,214 Languedoc, France 1209 1229 20 years Raphael Lemkin, well known as the coiner of the term "genocide", referred to the Albigensian Crusade as "one of the most conclusive cases of genocide in religious history".[220]
Genocide of indigenous peoples in Brazil 235,000 800,000 433,590 Brazil 1900 1985 85 years [221][unreliable source?] – Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas
Libyan genocide 250,000 750,000 433,012 Italian Libya 1911 1943 32 years The systematic destruction of the Libyan people and culture by the Italian Empire and its colonial authority; from 1929 to 1934[222] alone, 83,000–125,000 Libyans were massacred or died in Italian concentration camps.[223][224] However, when applying the wider definition of genocide, during the entire Italian colonial period, it is estimated that anywhere from 250,000 to 750,000 Libyans died.[225][226] Served as an inspiration for Nazi Germany for the Holocaust; Nazi German officials made several visits to Italian Libya and complimented the Italian methods as "successful" and would go on to apply them against Jews, Romani, Homosexuals, etc.[224]
Occupation of Tibet 144,000[227] 1,200,000[228] 415,692 Tibet 1950 present 68 years In 1960, the western-based nongovernmental International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) gave a report titled Tibet and the Chinese People's Republic to the United Nations. The report was prepared by the ICJ's Legal Inquiry Committee, composed of eleven international lawyers from around the world. This report accused the Chinese of the crime of genocide in Tibet, after nine years of full occupation, six years before the devastation of the cultural revolution began.[full citation needed] The ICJ also documented accounts of massacres, tortures and killings, bombardment of monasteries, and extermination of whole nomad camps. Declassified Soviet archives provides data that Chinese communists, who received a great assistance in military equipment from the Soviets, broadly used Soviet aircraft for bombing monasteries and other punitive operations in Tibet.[229][need quotation to verify]
Third Punic War 150,000[230] 750,000 335,410 Tunisia 149 BC 146 BC 3 years This war was a much smaller engagement than the two previous Punic Wars and focused on Tunisia, mainly on the Siege of Carthage, which resulted in the complete destruction of the city, the annexation of all remaining Carthaginian territory by Rome, and the death or enslavement of the entire Carthaginian population. The Third Punic War ended Carthage's independent existence. Classified by some historians as the first true genocide.[230][231][232]
Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia 200,000[233] 500,000[233] 316,228 Independent State of Croatia 1941 1945 4 years Genocide of Serbs by the Ustaše government of the Independent State of Croatia
Chinese genocide under Khmer Rouge 215,000[204][unreliable source?] 225,000 219,943 Democratic Kampuchea 1975 1979 4 years More than half of the Chinese population of Cambodia were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge.[234] – Part of the Cambodian genocide
Cham genocide under Khmer Rouge 90,000[204] 500,000[235] 212,132 Democratic Kampuchea 1975 1979 4 years The genocide slaughtered over 70% of the Cham Muslim population in Cambodia according to themselves.

According to Ben Kiernan, Cham were subjected to the most brutal treatment of those persecuted by the Khmer Rouge and subjected to the slaughter of 36% of their population according to Samuel Totten.[citation needed]

– Part of the Cambodian genocide

Assyrian genocide 150,000 300,000 212,132 Ottoman Empire 1914 1920 6 years One of the various genocides and ethnic cleansings the Ottoman Empire committed under the administration of the Young Turks.
Massacres of Hutus during the First Congo War 200,000 220,000[236] 209,762 Zaire 1996 1997 1 year During the First Congo War, Rwanda was able to destroy refugee camps, which the génocidaires had been using as their safe-bases, and forcibly repatriate Tutsi to Rwanda. During this process, Rwandan and aligned forces committed multiple atrocities, mainly against Hutu refugees. The true extent of the abuses is unknown because the AFDL and RPF carefully managed NGO and press access to areas where atrocities were thought to have occurred;[237] however, Amnesty International claimed as many as 200,000 Rwandese Hutu refugees were massacred by them and the Rwandan Defence Forces and aligned forces.[238] The United Nations similarly documented mass killings of civilians by Rwandan, Ugandan and the ADFL soldiers in the DRC Mapping Exercise Report.[citation needed]
Ran Min's "Hu culling" order 200,000 200,000 200,000 Northern China 349 350 1 year Ancient Chinese texts record that General Ran Min ordered the culling of the Wu Hu, especially the Jie people in the fourth century AD. People with racial characteristics such as high-bridged noses and bushy beards were killed, many of whom were mistakenly-identified Han Chinese; in total, 200,000 were reportedly massacred.[239]
Great Famine of Mount Lebanon 200,000 200,000 200,000 Mount Lebanon 1915 1918 3 years One of the various genocides and ethnic cleansings the Ottoman Empire committed under the administration of the Young Turks.
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland 200,000 200,000 200,000 Ireland 1649 1653 4 years The Parliamentarian reconquest of Ireland was brutal, and Cromwell is still a hated figure in Ireland.[240] The extent to which Cromwell, who was in direct command for the first year of the campaign, was responsible for the atrocities is debated to this day. Some historians[241] argue that the actions of Cromwell were within the then-accepted rules of war, or were exaggerated or distorted by later propagandists. These arguments, in turn, have been challenged by others.[242]
Caste War of Yucatán 200,000 200,000 200,000 Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico 1847 1901 54 years The Caste War of Yucatán against the population of European descent, called Yucatecos, who held political and economic control of the region. Adam Jones wrote, "Genocidal atrocities on both sides cost up to 200,000 killed."[243]– Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas
Destruction of Kurdish villages during the Iraqi Arabization campaign 87,500 388,100 184,279 Iraq 1977 1991 14 years 87,500 to 388,100 Kurds were killed in the destruction of Kurdish villages during the Iraqi Arabization campaign including: 2,500[244] to 12,500[244] in the Ba'athist Arabization campaigns in North Iraq, 10,000[245] to 25,000[246][247][clarification needed] were killed during the Feyli Kurds operation, 5,000[248] to 8,000[249] Kurds were disappeared in the

1983 Barzani killings, 50,000[250] to 100,000[250] (although Kurdish sources have cited a higher figure of 182,000[251]) more Kurds were massacred in the Anfal genocide, and at least 20,000[252] were killed during the 1991 Iraqi uprising notwithstanding an additional 48,400[253] to 140,600[253] Kurdish refugees that starved to death along the Iranian and Turkish borders.

Massacres of Albanians in the Balkan Wars 120,000[254] 270,000[254] 180,000 Ottoman Empire October 1912 August 1913 9 months Mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians by Serbian and Montenegrin troops during the Balkan Wars
Polish Operation of the NKVD 110,000 250,000 165,831 Soviet Union 1937 1938 1 year The operation from 1937 to 1938 to eliminate the Polish minority in the Soviet Union.
Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush 123,000[255] 200,000[256] 156,844 Soviet Union February 1944 March 1944 1 month Expulsion of the whole of the Vainakh (Chechen and Ingush) populations of the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
Hamidian massacres 80,000 300,000 154,919 Ottoman Empire 1894 1896 2 years Mass murder of Armenian (and other Christian) civilians under Sultan Abdul Hamid II that foreshadowed the Armenian genocide.
Massacres of Albanians in World War I 85,676[257] 250,000[258] 146,352 Principality of Albania, Kosovo, Vardar Macedonia 1914 1918 4 years Mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians during the First World War by Serbian, Montenegrin, Greek and Bulgarian troops
Indonesian occupation of East Timor 60,000[259] 308,000[260] 135,941 East Timor 1974 1999 25 years The civilian deaths under the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, including killings, disappearances, and deaths caused by conflict-related hunger and illness,[261] resulted in an enormous proportional loss of life upon the island some estimating as high as 13% up to almost a third to almost 44% of the population.[260][262][263]
1972 Genocide of Burundian Hutus 80,000 210,000 129,615 Burundi 1972 1972 ? Communal mass murder of Hutus by their rival tribe the Tutsi in Burundi.

– Part of the Rwandan and Burundian genocides

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia 60,000[264][265][266] 300,000[267] 134,164 Volhyn and Eastern Galicia 1943 1944 1 year Genocide[268][269] of Polish civilian population in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).[270][271][272][273][274]
Pogroms in the Russian Empire 52,000 254,500 115,039 Russian Empire 1903–1906 1917–1922 19 years The massacres of Jews in the Russian Empire reached their peak in the early 20th century, through the killing of thousands from 1903 to 1906[275] and tens to hundreds of thousands from 1917 to 1922.[276]
Kurdish Rebellions in Turkey 33,835 357,000 109,905 Turkey 1921 present 97 years All casualties from the various Kurdish uprisings against the Turkish state.
Deportation of the Crimean Tatars 100,000 100,000 100,000 Soviet Union 1944 1945 1 year Often considered an ethnic cleansing, and Ukraine considers the event genocide.
Massacres of European colonists during the rebellions of Túpac Amaru II and Túpac Katari 100,000 100,000 100,000 Present day Peru 1780 1782 2 years The indigenous rebellions of Túpac Amaru II and Túpac Katari against the Spanish between 1780 and 1782, cost over 100,000 colonists' lives in Peru and Upper Peru (present-day Bolivia).[287]
Spanish repressions of Dutch Protestants 100,000 100,000 100,000 The Low Countries 1566 1609 43 years 100,000 Dutch Protestants massacred under Charles V and Philip II during the Eighty Years' War.[288]
Darfur genocide
96,033 Darfur, Sudan 2003 present 15 years The War in Darfur is a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups began fighting the government of Sudan, which they accused of oppressing Darfur's non-Arab population.[293][294] The government responded to attacks by carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. This resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the indictment of Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.[295]
Al-Anfal genocide[296] 50,000[296] 182,000[251] 95,394 Iraq[296] 1986 1989 3 years The Kurdish genocide led by Ali Hassan al-Majid under the order of Saddam Hussein.
Atrocities against Harkis after the Algerian War 50,000[297] 150,000[297] 86,603 Algeria 1962 ? ? The Harkis were seen as traitors by many Algerians, and many of those who stayed behind suffered severe reprisals after independence. French historians estimate that somewhere between 50,000 and 150,000 Harkis and members of their families were killed by the FLN or by lynch mobs in Algeria, often in atrocious circumstances or after torture.[citation needed]
Aktion T4 70,273 93,521 81,068 Nazi Germany 1939 1941 2 years A euthanasia program in Nazi Germany used to purge those deemed genetically deficient.
Racial violence during the Rwandan Revolution 50,000 Hutus and tens of thousands of Tutsis Burundi and Rwanda 1959 1962 3 years [298]
Persecution of Albanians in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 80,000[299] 80,000 80,000 Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1918 1941 23 years
Conquest of the Canary Islands 80,000[300] 80,000 80,000 Canary Islands 1402 1520 103 years
Guatemalan genocide 35,000 166,000 76,223 Guatemala 1960 1996 36 years According to the Historical Clarification Commission, 140,000 to 200,000 were killed or disappeared, and at least 42,275 were killed by human rights violations during the Guatemalan Civil War, of which 93% were from officially sanctioned government terror and 83% of the victims were Maya.

– Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas

Annexation of Hyderabad 27,000 200,000 73,485 Hyderabad State, India 1948 1948 5 days [301][302]
De-Cossackization 5,000[303] 1,000,000[304] 70,711 Former Russian Empire 1917 1933 16 years Violent class purge, ethnic cleansing, and mass murder of Cossacks, especially Kuban and Don Cossacks, by the Bolsheviks.
Effacer le tableau 60,000 70,000 64,807 Democratic Republic of Congo 1998 2003 5 years Pygmy peoples were murdered en masse as they were regarded as subhumans.[citation needed]
Religious Killings of Christians in Nigeria 62,000 62,000 62,000 Nigeria 1999 present 24 years Since the turn of the 21st century, 62,000 Nigerian Christians have been killed by the terrorist group Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen and other groups.[305][306] The killings have been referred to as a silent genocide.[307][308]
Herero and Namaqua genocide 34,000 110,000 61,156 German South-West Africa 1904 1908[309] 4 years Genocides of the Herero and Nama peoples by the German Empire during the Herero Wars.
Bosnian Genocide and other ethnic cleansings during the Yugoslav Wars 52,856 64,917 58,577 Yugoslavia and successor states 1991 2001 10 years All civilians killed in the Yugoslav Wars including events such as the Srebrenica massacre, Vukovar massacre, Gospić massacre, and other atrocities.

69.8% to 82% of civilian victims of the Bosnian War were Bosniak. During the War in Croatia, 43.4% of the killed on the Croatian side were civilians.[310]

Genocide against Bosniaks and Croats by the Chetniks 50,000 68,000 58,310 Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1941 1945 4 years [317][318][319][320]
Italian Pacification of Libya 56,000 56,000 56,000 Libya 1923 1932 9 years The pacification campaign led to the deaths of one quarter of the 225,000 people in region of Cyrenaica. The Italians also expelled half of the region's population.[321]
Massacres of Polish civilians during the Warsaw Uprising 50,000 60,000[322][323] 54,772 Occupied Poland August 5, 1944 August 12, 1944 1 week Polish fatalities in districts of Wola and Ochota committed during Warsaw Uprising
1993 ethnic violence in Burundi 50,000 50,000 50,000 Burundi 1993 1993 ? Communal mass murder of Tutsis by their rival tribe the Hutu in Burundi.

– Part of the Rwandan and Burundian genocides

Witch trials in the early modern period 20,000 100,000 44,721 Europe 1400 1800 300 years [324][unreliable source?]
British concentration camps during the Second Boer War 26,000 40,000 32,249 Transvaal 1900 1902 2 years Lord Kitchener led the British army against the Boer Republics in the Second Boer War in Southern Africa. In an attempt to pacify Boer guerrillas, he targeted their families, and 116,000 Boer women and children were captured and jailed by the British, Within 2 years, 22,074 children died and 4,177 women died due to neglect by the British. 115,000 black people were separately jailed, of whom 15,000 died in prison camps.[325]
Burning of Smyrna 10,000[326][327] 100,000[328][329] 31,623 Smyrna, Ottoman Empire September 9, 1922 September 24, 1922 15 days A fire began in Smyrna four days after the Turkish military captured the city on 9 September, effectively ending the Greco-Turkish War, more than three years after the Greek army had landed troops at Smyrna on 15 May 1919. 10,000 to 100,000 Greeks and Armenians died in the fire and accompanying massacres committed by the Turks. The responsibility for the fire is a controversial issue; some sources blame Turks, and some sources blame Greeks or Armenians.[330][331]
Austro-Hungarian atrocities during the occupation of Serbia in World War I 30,000[332][333] 30,000[332][333] 30,000 Serbia 1914 1915 1 year Mass executions of Serbian civilians by Austro-Hungarian forces
Persecution of Shias by the Islamic State Tens of thousands[334] Tens of thousands Tens of thousands Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan 2003 present 16 years Ethnic cleansing, execution, forced conversion, rape, and enslavement of Shias by ISIL. One of the first instances was the Imam Ali Mosque bombing in Najaf.
Massacres of Kyrgyz people during the Central Asian revolt of 1916 3,000 270,000 28,460 Russian Empire, Kyrgyzstan 1916 1916 7 months In 1916, there was an uprising and crackdown of Kyrgyzstanis against and by Tsarist Russia in what is now known as the Urkun.

A public commission in Kyrgyzstan called the crackdown of 1916 that killed 100,000 to 270,000 Kyrgyzstanis a genocide though Russia rejected this characterization.[335]

Russian sources put the death toll at 3,000.[336]

Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam 10,000 65,000 25,495 Canara 1784 1799 15 years A 15-year imprisonment of Mangalorean Catholics and other Christians at Seringapatam in the Indian region of Canara by Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore.[citation needed]
1988 Burundian massacre of Hutus 25,000 25,000 25,000 Burundi 1988 1988 ? [298] – Part of the Rwandan and Burundian genocides
Parsley massacre 17,000[337][338] 35,000[337][338] 24,393 Dominican Republic October 2, 1937 October 8, 1937 6 days Genocidal massacre of people who say perejil (Spanish: "parsley") in a French accent in order to determine if they are Afro-Haitian or Afro-Dominican.
Australian frontier wars 22,000 22,500 22,249 Australia 1788 1934 146 years Wars between Indigenous Australians and settlers in which killed about 20,000 aboriginal and 2,500 settlers in combat or massacres.[citation needed]See also: List of massacres of Indigenous Australians
Ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia 17,000 28,000 21,817 Abkhazia and Georgia 1992 1993 1 year The ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia,[339][340][341][342][343][344][345][346][347][348][349][350] also known as the "massacres of Georgians in Abkhazia",[351][352] and "genocide of Georgians in Abkhazia"[353] Refers to ethnic cleansing,[354] massacres[355] and forced mass expulsion of thousands of ethnic Georgians
Dersim rebellion 7,594 40,000 17,429 Dersim, Turkey 1937 1937 8 months The Dersim massacre was a massacre of Kurdish people (Alevi Kurmanj and Zaza) by the Turkish government in the Dersim region of eastern Turkey, which includes parts of Tunceli Province, Elazığ Province, and Bingöl Province.[356][357][358][359][360][361][362] The massacre occurred after a rebellion led by Seyid Riza against the Turkification policies of the Turkish government.[363] As a result of the Turkish military campaign against the rebellion, thousands of Alevi Zazas[364] died and many others were internally displaced due to the conflict.

– Part of the Kurdish Rebellions in Turkey

1966 anti-Igbo pogrom 10,000 30,000 17,321 Nigeria May 29, 1966 October 1966 4 months, 2 days [365]
Indian massacres in the United States frontiers 16,349 16,349 16,349 What is now the United States 1511 1890 379 years It is difficult to determine the total number of people who died as a result of Indian massacres. However, one book, The Wild Frontier: Atrocities during the American-Indian War from Jamestown Colony to Wounded Knee, presents an estimate by counting every recorded atrocity in the area that would eventually become the continental United States, from first contact (1511) to the closing of the frontier (1890). The parameters were limited to the intentional and indiscriminate murder, torture, or mutilation of civilians, the wounded, and prisoners. The results revealed that 7,193 people died from atrocities perpetrated by those of European descent, and 9,156 people died from atrocities perpetrated by Native Americans.[366]– Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas
Persecution of Biharis in Bangladesh 1,000 150,000[367][368] 12,247 Bangladesh 1971 1971 ? Most extreme episode of the massacres of Biharis by Bengali mobs
Gukurahundi 3,750[369] 30,000[370] 10,607 Zimbabwe 1983 1987 5 years Ethnic cleansing and executions of members of the Ndebele by the Robert Mugabe's Fifth Brigade.
Deaths of indigenous children in the Canadian residential schools system 3,201[371][372] 32,010 10,122 Canada 1876 1996 120 years [373][189][190][191][374][192][375]– Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas
Vietnamese genocide by Khmer Rouge 10,000[204] 10,000 10,000 Democratic Kampuchea 1975 1979 4 years 100% of the Vietnamese in Cambodia were slaughtered during the genocide, according to Samuel Totten.

– Part of the Cambodian genocide

Thai Genocide by Khmer Rouge 8,000[204] 8,000 8,000 Democratic Kampuchea 1975 1979 4 years 40% of Thai in Cambodia were killed during the Cambodian genocide according to Samuel Totten.

– Part of the Cambodian genocide

1946 Bihar riots 2,000 30,000 7,746 Bihar, British India October 30, 1946 November 7, 1946 8 days Killings of Bihari Muslims by Bengali Hindus in retaliation to the Direct Action Day riots.[376][377]
Noakhali riots 5,000 10,000 7,071 Noakhali Region, Bengal, British India October 1946 November 1946 1 month Killings of Bengali Hindus by Bengali Muslims in retaliation to the Direct Action Day riots.
Sétif and Guelma massacre 1,020 45,000 6,775 Algeria 1945 1945 ? [297]
Genocide of native Tasmanians 3,000 15,000 6,708 Australia 1803 1905 102 years The last full-blooded Aboriginal Tasmanian was either Truganini or Fanny Cochrane Smith, whose date of death is used here to denote the end of the genocide. In 2017, there were between 6,000 and 23,000 mixed-race individuals of Aboriginal Tasmanian descent.[378][379]
Massacres of Arabs and Indians during the Zanzibar Revolution 2,000 20,000 6,325 Zanzibar January 12, 1964 February 2, 1964 ~21 days Thousands of Arabs and Indians were massacred during the Zanzibar Revolution
Foibe Massacres 11,000[380] 3,000[381] 5,745 Istria 1943 1945 3 years The foibe massacres were mass killings both during and after World War II, mainly committed by Yugoslav Partisans against the local ethnic Italian population, mainly in Venezia Giulia, Istria and Dalmatia. The term refers to the victims who were often thrown alive into foibas (deep natural sinkholes; by extension, it also was applied to the use of mine shafts, etc. to hide the bodies).
1964 East Pakistan riots 5,590 5,690 5,640 East Pakistan January 2, 1964 March 28, 1964 2 months, 26 days All casualties from the various riots in East Pakistan during the year 1964.
  • Khulna: 200–300
  • Dhaka: 1,000
  • Narayangang: 3,500
  • Bhulta: 267
  • Golkandi: 623
Simele massacre 5,000[382] 6,000[383][384] 5,477 Simele, Kingdom of Iraq August 7, 1933 August 11, 1933 4 days The Simele massacre inspired Raphael Lemkin to create the concept of genocide.[385]
1950 East Pakistan riots 4,803 4,833 4,818 East Bengal February 1950 March 1950 1 month All casualties from the various riots in East Pakistan during the year 1950.
  • 70–100: Nachole
  • 215: Dhaka
  • 2,500: Barisal
  • 17: Rajshahi
  • 2,000: Mymensingh
  • 1: Jessore
1984 anti-Sikh riots 2,800 8,000 4,733 India October 31, 1984 November 3, 1984 3 days A series of pogroms against Sikhs primarily done by members of the Indian National Congress party due to the assassination of the prime minister.
Nellie massacre 2,191 10,000 4,681 Assam, India Six hours on February 18, 1983 Six hours on February 18, 1983 6 hours Killings of 2191 Bengali Musims after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's decision to give 4 million Bengali Muslims in Assam the right to vote[386]
Direct Action Day 4,000 4,000 4,000 India August 16, 1946 August 18, 1946 2 days Also known as the Great Calcutta Killings, a day of widespread riot and manslaughter between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal province of British India.
Laotian genocide by Khmer Rouge 4,000 4,000 4,000 Democratic Kampuchea 1975 1979 4 years 40% of Laotians in Cambodia were killed during the Cambodian genocide according to Samuel Totten.[204]– Part of the Cambodian genocide
1804 Haiti massacre 3,000 5,000 3,873 Haiti Early February 1804 April 22, 1804 ? Genocide of French people in Haiti.[387]
Trail of Tears 2,000 6,000 3,464 United States 1830 1850 20 years The forced relocation of various Native American tribes under the order of Andrew Jackson.

– Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas

Genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State 2,000[388][389] 5,000 3,162 Sinjar, Iraq and Syria 2014 present 4 years Ethnic cleansing, execution, forced conversion, rape, and enslavement of Yazidis by ISIL
Selk'nam genocide 2,500[390] 3,900[391] 3,122 Tierra del Fuego, Chile Late 1800s Early 1900s ? Genocide of Selknam Native Chilean tribe.

– Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas

Genocide of Christians by the Islamic State Thousands[392] Thousands Thousands Worldwide 2014 present 4 years Ethnic cleansing, execution, forced conversion, rape, and enslavement of Christians by ISIL. In Iraq, the genocide started before 2014, as exemplified by the 2010 Baghdad church massacre
Expulsion of Cham Albanians 1,200[393] 5,000[394] 2,449 Thesprotia, Greece 1944 1945 1 year Forced migration of Cham Albanians from Greece to Albania.
Massacre of protesters at the Demolition of the Babri Masjid 2,000 2,000 2,000 Ayodhya, India 1992 1993 1 year The destruction of a prominent mosque in India by Hindu extremists and killings of Muslim protesters.[395]
2002 Gujarat riots 1,044 2,977[396] 1,763 Gujarat, India February 2002 March 2002 1 month Minimum death toll includes 790 Muslim death toll. Both death tolls include 254 Hindu deaths. Maximum death toll includes 223 presumed mixing as dead, and a higher 2,500 Muslim death toll.[citation needed]
Conquest of the Desert 1,300 1,300 1,300 Argentina Mid-1870s 1884 ? Military campaign, directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca, which established Argentine dominance over Patagonia, then inhabited by indigenous peoples. – Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas
Black War 878 878 878 Australia Mid-1820s 1832 ? – Part of the Genocide of native Tasmanians
Massacre of Salsipuedes 40 40 40 Uruguay April 11, 1831 The same day 1 day Largest event of extermination of the Charrúa people. Most of the tribe was either killed or then sold as slaves to human zoos in Europe that day.

– Part of the Genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas

Political leaders and regimes[edit]

This section lists deaths attributed to certain political leaders, deaths are from both the conditions within the country due to national policy, and active killings by forces loyal to the leader in question.

Leader(s) Lowest estimate Highest estimate Geom. mean estimate[1] Location From Until Duration Notes
Various Colonial regimes of Europe 38,873,270 367,015,746 119,444,976 worldwide 1402[397] 1960[398] 559 years List will not be exhaustive due to the scope and breadth of the event:

This list is incomplete you can help by adding to it

Various Marxist-Leninist leaders 27,928,221 148,849,128[404][405][e][better source needed] 64,475,510 worldwide 1917 present 104 years
See also: Mass killings under communist regimes
Genghis Khan, Timur and Kublai Khan 40,000,000 80,000,000 56,568,542 Eurasia 1206 1405 199 years Due to the lack or records and time span in which they occurred, estimates of the violence associated with the conquests of the Mongol Empire and its predecessor states vary considerably[408] not including the spread of plague to Europe, West Asia, or China it is possible that between 20 and 40 million people were killed between 1206 and 1405 during the various campaign's of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, and Timur[409][410] According to Matthew White, up to 60 million people were killed during Genghis Khan's invasions and an additional maximum of 20 million under Timurid campaigns, totaling a higher figure of 80 million people, even not considering the fatalities of Kublai Khan's invasions.[411]
Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping 14,109,560 80,170,000+[404][better source needed] 33,632,773 People's Republic of China 1923 1986 63 years Critics of Mao Zedong have argued Mao's China saw unprecedented losses of human life through mismanaged economic policies such as the Great Leap Forward, slave labor through the Laogai, violent political purges such as the Cultural Revolution and class extermination through land reform.

Estimates For each event/policy include:

Events such as the Siege of Changchun, Yan'nan Rectification Movements, and the Purges in the Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet occurred while Mao occupied territories of China, but before the establishment of the PRC. Deaths from land reform also occurred during and after the Civil War. The death toll for the Laogai prison system is difficult to distinguish between deaths from other events/policies and the regimes of Deng and Mao.
See also: History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)
Various Fascist leaders 16,481,274 41,233,037 26,068,621 worldwide 1922 1975 55 years

The overwhelming majority of all deaths caused by fascism occurred between 1929 and 1945. Marking the period between The Wall Street Crash and World War II.

Hong Xiuquan 20,000,000[431][432] 20,000,000[431][432] 20,000,000 China 1850 1864 14 years Deaths owing to war crimes, and famine caused by the Taiping Rebellion
Joseph Stalin 9,073,394 42,672,000[406][better source needed] 19,676,887 Soviet Union 1922 1953 31 years The millions killed by the regime of Joseph Stalin through famine, purges, labor camps, population transfer, deportations, and NKVD massacres. The minimum death toll (to the left) uses the minimum post-archive calculations from after the fall of the Soviet regime of those not killed in famine which range from four to ten million[433][434][435][436] Robert Conquest, writer of the book The Great Terror, first stated an estimate of 30 million, then a few years later lowering it to 20 million,[437] and finally saying that no fewer than 15 million perished during the entire history of the USSR.[438] Following the collapse of the USSR and the opening of the archives, scholars have reached lower death tolls.[439]

Timothy D. Snyder in 2011 said that Stalin approximately killed 6 million to 9 million[440]

Historian Stephen Kotkin in 2018 stated that Stalin together and Lenin are responsible for 18–20 million deaths[441]

The minimum[needs copy edit] death toll uses post-archive calculations from after the fall of the Soviet regime, while higher estimates are based on demographic calculations of population loss.

Modern Estimates for each event include.

Those killed in the Soviet repressions of Polish citizens (1939–1946) and the occupation of the Baltic states are included with the deaths from executions and population transfer.

See also

Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin

Adolf Hitler 12,883,250 24,895,692+ 17,909,144 German-occupied Europe 1934 1945 11 years The estimate includes The Holocaust against the Jews, plus the genocide and mass murder of Gypsies, Serbs, East Slavs, disabled people, homosexuals, Freemasons, POWs, and the Jehovah's Witnesses
Hirohito, various leaders 3,000,000[61] 14,000,000[62] 6,480,741 In and around East and South East Asia, Oceania and the Pacific 1937 1945 8 years If total casualties for these conflicts are assigned exclusively to Japanese aggression the toll could reach some 30 million deaths. See also: Japanese war crimes
Leopold II of Belgium 3,000,000[f] 13,000,000[151] 6,244,998 Congo Free State 1885 1908 23 years Private forces under the control of Leopold II of Belgium carried out mass murders, mutilations, and other crimes against the Congolese in order to encourage the gathering of valuable raw materials, principally rubber. The main cause of the population decline was disease and starvation, which was exacerbated by the social disruption caused by the Free State, such as population displacement and poor treatment. Additionally disease, famine and violence combined to reduce the birth-rate while excess deaths rose.[152] Estimates of the death toll vary considerably due to the lack of a formal census before 1924, but a commonly cited figure of 10 million deaths was obtained by estimating a 50% decline in the total population during the Congo Free State and applying it to the total population of 10 million in 1924.[153] See also: Atrocities in the Congo Free State
Vladimir Lenin 1,101,000[478] 10,442,168[479] 3,390,697 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic 1917 1922 5 years Including low and high estimates for the Kronstadt rebellion, Red Terror, Tambov Rebellion, and Russian famine of 1921–1922. All estimates are available in their respective articles.
Ranavalona I 2,500,000 2,500,000 2,500,000 Madagascar 1829 1842 13 years Putting an end to most foreign trade relationships, Ranavalona I pursued a policy of self-reliance, made possible through frequent use of the long-standing tradition of fanompoana—forced labor in lieu of tax payments in money or goods. Ranavalona continued the wars of expansion conducted by her predecessor, Radama I, in an effort to extend her realm over the entire island, and imposed strict punishments on those who were judged as having acted in opposition to her will. Due in large part to loss of life throughout the years of military campaigns, high death rates among fanompoana workers, and harsh traditions of justice under her rule, the population of Madagascar is estimated to have declined from around 5 million to 2.5 million between 1833 and 1839, and from 750,000 to 130,000 between 1829 and 1842 in Imerina.[480] These statistics have contributed to a strongly unfavorable view of Ranavalona's rule in historical accounts.[481]
Chiang Kai-Shek 480,643 10,214,000[74] 2,215,691 Republic of China 1928 1946 18 years Higher death toll is primarily attributed to conscription campaigns and grain confiscations.

The minimum death toll is based on minimum calculations from the Kuomintang anti-communist massacres (40,643),[482] 1938 Changsha fire (30,000), the flooding of the Yellow River (400,000),[483] and the February 28 incident (10,000).[484]

Pol Pot 1,386,734[202] 3,400,000[203] 2,171,381 Cambodia 1975 1979 4 years Deaths due to arbitrary torture, execution, starvation, and forced labor among the population of Cambodia under the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, including both killings of ethnic Khmer (the majority ethnic group) as well as a genocide of religious and ethnic minorities by the Khmer Rouge. Minimum death toll is the number of corpses found in the Killing Fields.[citation needed]See also: Cambodian genocide
The Young Turks 1,489,000 3,047,000 2,130,019 Ottoman Empire 1913 1922 9 years Under the Young Turks' regime that took power in 1908, the Ottoman Empire committed various genocides and ethnic cleansings. The minimum death toll is derived from the sum of the minimum death tolls of the Armenian genocide (800,000), Assyrian genocide (150,000), Greek genocide (289,000), ethnic cleansing of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913 (50,000), and the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon (200,000). The maximum death toll is derived from the work of Rudolph Rummel.
Omar al-Bashir 1,063,000 2,530,000 1,639,936 Sudan 1989 2019 29 years 1 to 2 million: Second Sudanese Civil War

63,000 to 530,000:[485] Darfur genocide

Kim Dynasty 710,000 3,500,000[citation needed] 1,576,388 North Korea 1948 present 70 years North Korea continues to be one of the most repressive governments in the world.[164] See also: Human rights in North Korea
Communist Afghanistan[71][72] 500,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 Afghanistan 1979 1989 10 years
Suharto 240,500 3,418,000+ 906,658 Indonesia 1965 1998 33 years 65/66 Politicide: 78,500 to 3 million "communists"
East Timor atrocities: 60,000 to 308,000 East Timorese
West Papua atrocities: 100,000 papuans
Petrus killings: 2,000 to 10,000 suspected criminals
Théoneste Bagosora 500,000 1,100,000 741,620 Rwanda 1994 1994 100 days approximately 17% of the population of Rwanda was killed in 100 days, in the Rwandan genocide.
Mengistu Haile Mariam 225,000[486] 2,000,000[487][unreliable source?] 670,820 Ethiopia 1977 1987 10 years
Saddam Hussein 200,000[488] 2,000,000[488] 632,456 Iraq 1979 2003 24 years see Human rights in Saddam Hussein's Iraq#Number of victims
Ante Pavelić and Nikola Mandić 300,000[489] 1,088,000[490] 571,314 Croatia[489] 1941 1945 4 years See also: Independent State of Croatia
Milton Obote 300,000 1 million[491] 547,723 Uganda 1966

1980

1971

1985

10 years
Commonwealth of England 200,000 800,000 400,000 Ireland 1649 1660 11 years See also: Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Cong 145,225 1,082,000 396,401 Vietnam 1954 2000 46 years 95,000: re-education camps[104]
13,500[492]–200,000:[493] land reform
36,725[103] to 227,000:[104] war crimes
200,000 to 560,000:[104][494] boat people
The minimum death toll is the same of minimum estimates for war crimes, re-education camps, and land reform. The maximum death toll is the combination of the maximum estimated death toll of land reform, war crimes, re-education camps and boat people, which may or may not be attributable to the regime.
Benito Mussolini 158,000 750,000+ 344,238 Italy, Libya, Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Greece 1922 1945 24 years
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla 300,000[501] 300,000 300,000 Colombia 1953 1957 4 years See also: La Violencia
Francisco Franco 195,000 265,000 227,321 Spain, Austria, and Russia 1939 1975 36 years Diseases and starvation: 130,000 (1939–1943)
Repression: 30,000–100,000 (1939–1948)
Prison camps: 20,000 (1939–1943)
Spanish Maquis: 5,548 (1939–1965)
World War II: 5,000 (Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria)
Blue Division: Casualties in the Russo-German conflict totalled 22,700. In action against the Blue Division, the Red Army suffered 49,300 casualties.
See also: Francoist Spain
Idi Amin 100,000[502][503] 500,000 223,607 Uganda 1971 1979 8 years Idi Amin's rule of Uganda saw excessive and egregious human rights abuses toward ethnic minorities and political opposition, earning him the nickname "The Butcher of Uganda."
Josip Broz Tito 60,000[504] 802,000[505] 219,363 Yugoslavia 1944 1980 36 years
Bashar al-Assad 87,952[506] 500,000[507] 209,705 Syria 2011 present 9 years See also: Syrian civil war

perhaps up to 278,460[508] civilians killed

An additional 154,000 civilians have been forcibly disappeared or subject to arbitrary detentions; with over 135,000 individuals being tortured, imprisoned or dead in government detention centres as of 2023.[g]

Michel Micombero 100,000 300,000 173,205 Burundi 1966 1976 10 years See also: Ikiza
Government of Guatemala, Armed Forces of Guatemala, and Mano Blanca 130,200 186,000 155,619 Guatemala 1960 1996 36 years Between 140,000 and 200,000 dead and missing in Guatemalan Civil War (estimated)[509][510][511] 93% killed by government forces[512]
FRELIMO 83,000[513] 250,000[513] 144,049 Communist Mozambique 1975 1999 24 years See also: Mozambican Civil War
King Salman 85,000[514] 230,000+[515][516] 139,821 Yemen 2016 present 5 years See also: Famine in Yemen
Ivan the Terrible 60,000[517][unreliable source?] 260,000[518] 124,900 Russian Empire 1533 1584 51 years
Communist rule in Romania, various leaders 60,000[519] 234,947[520] 118,730 Romania 1945 1989 44 years Total does not take into account the Romanian orphans who perished under Nicolae Ceaușescu's policies.
See also: Socialist Republic of Romania
Syngman Rhee 60,000 200,000 109,545 South Korea 1950 1950 1 years During the Bodo League massacre[521]
Siad Barre 50,000 200,000 100,000 Somalia 1988 1991 3 years See also: Isaaq genocide
Second Spanish Republic 27,000[522] 302,000[522] 90,300 Spain 1931 1939 8 years See also: Red Terror (Spain)
Communist rule in Bulgaria, various leaders 31,000[523][524] 220,000[520] 82,583 Bulgaria 1944 1989 45 years Collectivization and political repression in Bulgaria
See also: People's Republic of Bulgaria
Sheng Shicai 50,000[525] 100,000[525] 70,711 Xinjiang Province, Republic of China 1933 1945 13 years
Vlad the Impaler 43,903[526][527] 100,000 66,259 Wallachia 1456 1462 6 years
Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, various leaders 24,000[520][unreliable source?] 181,000[520][unreliable source?] 65,909 Czechoslovakia 1948 1968 20 years See also: Communist repression in Czechoslovakia
Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khemenei 48,482 87,500 65,132 Iran 1979 present 39 years 4,482 to 30,000 in P.O.C. massacre
6,000 to 18,000 child soldiers killed
(refer to earlier tables on page)
8,000 to 9,500 Casualties of the Iranian Revolution[528]
More than 30,000 Kurds died in the 1979 rebellion and the consequent KDPI insurgency.[529]
Henry VIII 57,000[530] 72,000[531] 64,062 England 1509 1547 38 years
Francisco Macías Nguema 20,000[532]: 1  20,000 20,000 Equatorial Guinea 1968 1979 11 years At trial, Macías Nguema and his regime was accused of the genocide of 20,000.[532]: 167 
Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador and proceeding government of El Salvador 55,387 59,886 57,593 El Salvador 1979 1992 12 years 65,161+ civilians killed in Salvadoran Civil War[533] along with 5,292+ disappeared.[533] The Truth Commission for El Salvador concluded that approximately 85% of the abuses committed between 1980 and 1991 were committed by government forces.[14] Controversially, the commission named over 40 senior members of the military, judicial system, and armed opposition in the report for their involvement in the conduction of the mass atrocities. Furthermore, from the 22,000 testimonies documented, at least 60% involved murders, 25% involved disappearances, and 20% involved torture.[534]
Rafael Trujillo 50,000[535][536][537] 50,000[535][536][537] 50,000 Dominican Republic 1930 1960 30 years
Sheikh Hasina 45,000 45,000 45,000 Bangladesh 2009 present 14 years
François Duvalier 30,000[538] 60,000[538] 42,426 Haiti 1957 1971 14 years Duvalier's rule based on a purged military, a rural militia known as the Tonton Macoute, and the use of cult of personality, resulted in the murder of 30,000 to 60,000 Haitians, and the exile of many more.[citation needed]
Hissène Habré 40,000 40,000 40,000 Chad 1982 1990 8 years In May 2016, Hissène Habré was found guilty of human-rights abuses, including rape, sexual slavery, and ordering the killing of 40,000 people. He was sentenced to life in prison. He is the first former head of state to be convicted for human rights abuses in the court of another nation.[539]
Communist rule in Cuba, various leaders 9,240[540] 92,400[540] 29,219 Cuba 1976 present 42 years Human rights in Cuba are under the scrutiny of Human Rights Watch, which accuses the Cuban government of systematic human rights abuses. This includes offenses such as arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extrajudicial execution.[541][542] See also: Human rights in Cuba
French First Republic, various leaders 16,594 41,594 26,272 France 1792 1799 7 years See also: Reign of Terror
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez 10,000[543] 40,000[543] 20,000 El Salvador 1931 1944 12 years 10,000–40,000 killed in La Matanza
Nicolás Maduro Almost 18,000[544] Almost 18,000 Almost 18,000 Venezuela 2016 present 5 years
Ferdinand Marcos 3,257[545] 83,257[546] 16,467 Philippines 1965 1986 21 years The conservative estimate is recorded from 1975 to 1985, while the maximum estimate is recorded from 1965 to 1976. Also Includes those from the Moro conflict.
Tomás de Torquemada 2,000[547] 124,621[548] 15,787 Spanish Empire 1480 1498 18 years Minimum death toll only includes lowest estimate of those burned at the stake, whereas the maximum death toll also includes those who died from hunger and torture.
Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping 3,700[549] 66,390[550][551][552][553][554][555] 15,673 China 1993 present 28 years See also: Persecution of Falun Gong, 2008 Tibetan unrest
Communist rule in Poland, various leaders 10,000[556] 22,000 14,832 Communist Poland 1945 1989 44 years See also: Communist repression in Poland
Communist rule in Hungary, Various leaders 7,000 27,000[520] 13,748 Hungary 1948 1956 8 years Minimum death toll does not take into account those out of the 150,000 who perished in concentration camps, and only counts the 5,000 alleged spies and 2,000 party members executed, noting that 5,000 spies came from only 98,000 out of 700,000 alleged spies.[557][558] See also: Communist repression in Hungary
Enver Hoxha 5,000 25,000 11,180 Albania 1941 1985 44 years
Grégoire Kayibanda 10,000[559] 10,000 10,000 Rwanda 1962 1973 11 years Reprisals against Tutsis during the Rwandan Revolution
Tiberius 9,500[560][unreliable source?] 9,500 9,500 Ancient Rome 14 37 23 years
Caligula 9,000[560] 9,000 9,000 Ancient Rome 37 41 4 years
Johnny Paul Koroma 6,000 6,000 6,000 Sierra Leone 1997 1998 1 year
Nero 5,750[560] 5,750 5,750 Ancient Rome 54 68 14 years
Communist rule in East Germany, various leaders 327[561] 70,000[562] 4,784 East Germany[561] 1949[561] 1989[561] 40 years See also: Berlin Wall deaths
Fulgencio Batista 1,000[563] 20,000[564] 4,472 Cuba 1952 1959 7 years
Jean-Bédel Bokassa 100[565] 90,000 3,000 Central African Republic 1966 1976 10 years It was found that Bokassa personally oversaw the massacre of 100 schoolchildren.[565]
Claudius 2,935[560] 2,935 2,935 Ancient Rome 41 54 13 years
Park Chung Hee 2,104[566][567] 3,514 2,719 South Korea 1961 1979 18 years See also: South Korea in the Vietnam War, Brothers Home. Low estimate includes estimates for the Brothers Home, the Binh Tai Massacre, the Bình An/Tây Vinh massacre, the Bình Hòa massacre, and the Hà My massacre.
Chun Doo Hwan 1,114 2,814 1,771 South Korea 1981 1988 8 years See also: Kwangju incident, Brothers Home

Political purges[edit]

This section lists events that entail the mass killings of political opposition (such as those of certain ideology, class or political persuasion).

See also: Red Terror (disambiguation), White Terror, and Politicide.

Event Lowest estimate Highest estimate Geometric mean estimate[1] Location From Until Duration Notes
Mass killings of landlords under Mao Zedong 200,000[568] 28,000,000[569] 2,366,432 People's Republic of China 1947 1951 5 years Millions of landlords were allegedly killed during land reforms before the formation of the People's Republic of China because they were seen as class enemies.[570]
See also: Struggle session
Cultural Revolution 400,000[421] 10,000,000[571] 2,000,000 People's Republic of China 1966 1976 10 years The Cultural Revolution, formally the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 until 1976. Set into motion by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, its stated goal was to preserve 'true' Communist ideology in the country by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society.
See also: Struggle session
Dekulakization 530,000[572] 5,000,000[573] 1,627,882 Ukraine, USSR 1917 1933 16 years Initial phase part of: Red terror Final phase part of: Collectivization
Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66 500,000[574] 3,000,000[575] 1,224,745 Indonesia 1965 1966 1 year Massacres of people connected to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) were carried out in 1965–66 by the Indonesian Army and associated death squads with support from Western powers such as the United States.[576][577][578] Death tolls are difficult to estimate,[579] but it is widely accepted by scholars that roughly 1 million people were killed.[580]
Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries 712,000[417] 2,000,000[581] 1,193,315 People's Republic of China 1950 1951 1 year The Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries (Chinese: 镇压反革命; pinyin: zhènyā fǎn gémìng; lit. 'suppressing counterrevolutionaries' or abbreviated as Chinese: 鎮反; pinyin: zhènfǎn) was the first political campaign launched by the People's Republic of China designed to eradicate opposition elements, especially former Kuomintang (KMT) functionaries accused of trying undermine the new Communist government.[417]
Great Purge 681,692[582] 1,704,230[583] 1,077,850 Soviet Union 1936 1938 2 years The Great Purge or Great Terror was a period of intense political repression in the Soviet Union including execution (especially through open air shootings) and forced labor through the Gulag system.[citation needed]
White Terror (Spain) 150,000[584] 400,000[585] 244,949 Spain during and after the Spanish Civil War 1936 1945 9 years In Spain, the White Terror (also known as "la Represión Franquista" or the "Francoist Repression") was the series of acts of politically motivated violence, rape, and other crimes committed by the Nationalist movement during the Spanish Civil War (July 17, 1936 – April 1, 1939) and during Francisco Franco's dictatorship (October 1, 1936 – November 20, 1975)[586]
Qey Shibir 30,000 750,000[587] 150,000 People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia 1977 1978 1 year Violent purge of those deemed Anti-Communist in Ethiopia.[588][589][590][591][592]
Bodo League massacre 100,000[593] 200,000[594] 141,421 Korea 1950 1950 ? Massacre of communists and suspected communists during the summer of 1950, at the start of Korean War.
German suppression of the Freemasons 80,000[595] 200,000[595] 126,491 German-occupied territory 1933 1945 12 years The Nazi regime of Germany targeted Freemasons as they saw them as collaborators in a Jewish conspiracy.
See also: Suppression of Freemasonry
Red Terror 10,000[596] 1,500,000[597] 122,474 Former Russian Empire during Russian Civil War 1918 1922 4 years Political repression by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War.
White Terror (Russia) 20,000[598] 300,000[599] 77,460 Former Russian Empire 1917 1923 6 years Political repression by the White movement during the Russian Civil War.
1991 Iraqi uprisings 25,000 180,000 67,082 Iraq March the 1st, 1991 April the 5th, 1991 1 month and 4 days The death toll of the uprising against Saddam Hussein's government during 1991 was high throughout the country. The rebels killed many Ba'athist officials and officers. In response, thousands of unarmed civilians were killed by indiscriminate fire from loyalist tanks, artillery and helicopters, and many historical and religious structures in the south were deliberately targeted under orders from Saddam Hussein. Saddam's security forces entered the cities, often using women and children as human shields, where they detained and summarily executed or "disappeared" thousands of people at random in a policy of collective responsibility. Many suspects were tortured, raped, or burned alive.[600]
Operation Condor 50,000[601] 90,000[602] 67,082 South America 1975 1983 8 years A campaign of political repression by right-wing dictatorships in South America, sponsored by the United States.[603][604]
Red Terror (Spain) 38,000[605] 72,344[606] 52,432 Spain during the Spanish Civil War 1936 1939 3 years The Red Terror in Spain (Spanish: Terror Rojo)[607] is the name given by historians to various acts of violence committed from 1936 until the end of the Spanish Civil War "by sections of nearly all the leftist groups".[608]
Land Reform in Vietnam 13,500[492] 200,000[493] 51,962 North Vietnam 1954 1956 2 years
Reign of Terror 16,594[609] 41,594[610] 26,272 France during the French Revolution 1793 1794 1 year The Reign of Terror was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins and The Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution".[citation needed]
1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre 10,000 40,000[611] 20,000 El Salvador January 22, 1932 July 11, 1932 6 months and 20 days Many of the victims were indigenous people.
February 28 incident 10,000 30,000 17,321 Taiwan 1947 1947 1 day Crackdown by the Kuomintang government that ushered in the White Terror (Taiwan) era.
Dirty War 9,000[612] 30,000[603] 16,432 Argentina 1976 1983 7 years At least 9,000 people were tortured and killed in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, carried out primarily by the Argentinean military Junta (part of Operation Condor).[603]
Red and White terrors of the Finnish Civil War 11,650 11,650 11,650 Finland 1918 1918 3 months, 2 weeks and 4 days Both sides of the Finnish Civil War used Terrors where 10,000 were killed in the White Terror and 1,650 were killed in the Red Terror.[613]
1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners 4,482 30,000 11,596 Iran 1988 1988 5 months Massacre of political prisoners in Iran.[614][615][616]
1982 Hama massacre 2,000 40,000 8,944 Hama, Syria February 2, 1982 February 28, 1982 26 days The Hama massacre (Arabic: مجزرة حماة) occurred in February 1982, when the Syrian Arab Army and the Defense Companies, under the orders of the country's president Hafez al-Assad, besieged the town of Hama for 27 days in order to quell an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood against al-Assad's government.[citation needed]
White Terror (Taiwan) 3,000 4,000 3,464 Taiwan 1949 1987 38 years An era of martial law in Taiwan in which 140,000 were imprisoned, and 3,000 to 4,000 were executed for real or perceived opposition to the Kuomintang.[citation needed]
Extermination of the Patriotic Union party 2,000 5,000 3,162 Colombia 1984 1994
Human rights violations in Pinochet's Chile 1,200 3,200 1,960 Chile 1974 1990 16 years 1,200 to 3,200 alleged communists were executed, 80,000 were forcibly interned and 30,000 were tortured under the reign of Augusto Pinochet.[617][618]
1989 Tiananmen Square protests crackdown 241 10,000[619] 1,552 Tiananmen Square, People's Republic of China 1989 1989 1 month, 2 weeks and 6 days Crackdown of anti-government protest in the People's Republic of China.
Red Terror (Hungary) 370 590 467 Hungary 1919 1919 4 months

Prisons, concentration and extermination camps[edit]

This section lists deaths that occurred in particular prisons, concentration and/or extermination camps, deaths are from both the conditions within the camps and from the active murder/execution of prisoners.

Event Lowest estimate Highest estimate Geometric mean estimate[1] Location From Until Duration Notes
Auschwitz concentration camp 1,100,000 1,500,000 1,284,523 Oświęcim, Poland 1940 1945 5 years [620][621][622]
Treblinka extermination camp 700,000 1,000,000 836,660 Treblinka, Poland 1942 1943 1 year [623][624]
Belzec extermination camp 480,000 600,000 536,656 Bełżec, Poland 1942 1943 1 year [625][626][627]
Kolyma 130,000 500,000 254,951 Kolyma, Soviet Union 1932 1954 22 years [628]
Jasenovac concentration camp 77,000 100,000 87,750 Independent State of Croatia 1941 1945 4 years [629][630]
Stutthof concentration camp 85,000 85,000 85,000 Stutthof, Poland 1939 1945 6 years See also: Nazi Germany
Stara Gradiška concentration camp 12,790 75,000 30,972 Independent State of Croatia 1941 1945 4 years Primarily for women and children.[631][632]
Tuol Sleng 17,000 17,000 17,000 Phnom Penh, Cambodia 1975 1979 4 years [633]
Camp Sumter 13,171 13,171 13,171 Andersonville, Georgia, United States 1864 1865 1 year [634]
Sednaya Prison 5,000[635] 30,000[636] 12,247 Saidnaya, Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria 2011 unknown over 10 years[636] Military prison used to torture and execute Syrian opposition to the Assad regime.
Crveni Krst concentration camp 12,000 12,000 12,000 Niš, Serbia 1941 1944 3 years [637]
Topovske Šupe concentration camp 4,300 4,300 4,300 Belgrade, Serbia 1941 1941 4 months [638]
Banjica concentration camp 3,849 3,849 3,849 Belgrade, Serbia 1941 1944 4 years [639][640][641]
Fort Dimanche 3,000 3,000 3,000 Port-au-Prince, Haiti 1957 1986 30 years It has been estimated that about 3,000 inmates died.[642]
Tammisaari prison camp 2,963 2,963 2,963 Ekenäs, Finland 1918 1918 4 months
Elmira Prison 2,950 2,950 2,950 Elmira, New York, U.S. 1864 1865 1 year [643]
Shark Island concentration camp 1,032 4,000[644] 2,032 Luderitz, German South-West Africa 1905 1907 2 years The minimum death toll is out of a camp population of 1,795 people, and the maximum total includes those who died in the Luderitz area.
Goli Otok prison 400[645] 4,000[646] 1,265 Goli Otok, Yugoslavia 1949 1956 8 years

Riots and political unrest[edit]

Main article: List of riots

Riots and incidents where at least 100 people died are listed here.

Event Victims Country Locale(s) Date
Partition of India 200,000–2,000,000 British India Punjab and Bengal 1947
La Violencia 200,000–300,000 Colombia Country-wide 1948–1960
1959 Tibetan uprising 85,000–87,000 Tibet, China Lhasa 1959
April Uprising 30,000 Ottoman Empire Bulgaria 1876
Nika riots 30,000 Byzantium Constantinople 532
Political violence in Apartheid South Africa 18,997–21,000[647][unreliable source?] South Africa Country-wide 1948–1994
Semaine sanglante 6,667–20,000 France Paris 1871
February 28 incident 10,000–30,000 China Taiwan 1947
Jeju uprising 14,000–30,000 Southern Korea, present-day South Korea Jeju island 1948
August Uprising 13,000–15,500 Soviet Union Georgia 1924
La Matanza 10,000–40,000 El Salvador 1932
Romanian Peasants' Revolt 10,000–20,000 Romania 1907
Kronstadt rebellion 10,000 Russia Kronstadt 1921
1984 anti-Sikh riots 2,800–8,000 India New Delhi 1984
March 1st Movement 7,500 Japanese Korea, present-day South Korea Seoul 1919
Al-Aqsa Intifada 4,179–4,354 Israel/Palestinian territories 2000–2005
Pitchfork uprising 3,800 Russia 1920
Iranian Revolution[648] 2,781 Iran 1979
8888 Uprising 3,000–10,000 Burma/Myanmar 1987–1993
First Intifada 2,204 Israel/Palestinian territories 1987
Banana Massacre 47–2,000 Colombia Ciénaga 1928
Santa María School massacre 2,300 Chile Iquique 1907
Assam Movement 2,191+ India Assam 1979–1985
1994 South African transitional violence 1,652[649] South Africa 1994
Romanian Revolution 1,104 Romania Bucharest and major cities 1989
2009 Boko Haram uprising 1,000+ Nigeria States of Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, and Kano 2009
May 1998 riots of Indonesia 1,000–1,200 Indonesia Jakarta, Medan, Surakarta 1998
2008 Kenyan election protests 1,000[650][651] Kenya 2008
2005 Togolese democracy protests 500–1,000[652][653] Togo 2005
1989 Bhagalpur violence 1,000 India Bhagalpur district, Bihar 1989
1905 Bloody Sunday 132–4,000 Russia Saint Petersburg 1905
2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes 893 Kyrgyzstan 2010
1987 Mecca incident 400 Saudi Arabia Mecca 1987
Jallianwala Bagh (Amritsar) massacre 379–1,526 British India Amritsar 1919
Telangana movement (Hyderabad) 360+ India Hyderabad 1969
Tunisian Revolution 338 Tunisia 2010–2011
1989 Tiananmen Square protests 300–10,454 China Beijing 1989
Kengir uprising 700 Soviet Union Kazakhstan 1954
2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests 317[654] Nicaragua Country-wide 2018
Gordon Riots 285 Great Britain 1780
1929 Palestine riots 249 British Mandate for Palestine 1929
Sudanese Revolution 229+[655][656][657] Sudan Nationwide 2018–2019
Military Police of Espírito Santo strike 215 Brazil Espírito Santo 2017
Ürümqi race riots 197+ China Xinjiang 2009
13 May incident 196 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 1969
Andijan massacre 187–1,500 Uzbekistan Andijan 2005
2017 Venezuelan protests 165 Venezuela Nationwide 2017
2009 Guinean protests 157 Guinea Conakry 2009
Gwangju Uprising 144–2,000 South Korea Gwangju 1980
Durban riots 142 South Africa Durban 1949
2017 Brazil prison riots 140+ Brazil 2017
Muhammad cartoon riots 139[658] Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, and Afghanistan 2006
Khartoum massacre 128 Sudan Khartoum 2019
Tana River District clashes 118 Kenya Tana River District 2012–2013
Euromaidan 121–797 Ukraine Kyiv 2014
New York City draft riots 119–120 United States New York City 1863
Carandiru massacre 111 Brazil São Paulo 1992
Napoleon's "whiff of grapeshot" 100 France Paris 1795
2001 Argentine anti-government riots 39 Argentina Country-wide, Buenos Aires 2001
Georgian de-Stalinization riots 22–100 Georgia Country-wide 1956

Anthropogenically exacerbated disasters[edit]

Disease and famine [edit]

Main articles: Famine and List of famines

This section includes famines and disease outbreaks that were caused or exacerbated by human action.

Note: Some of these famines and diseases were partially caused by nature.

Event Lowest estimate Highest estimate Geom. mean estimate[1] Location From Until Duration Notes
Black Death 75,000,000[659] 200,000,000[660] 122,474,487 Asia, Europe, North Africa 1347 1351 4 years During the siege of Caffa in today's Crimea, one of the first documented cases of biological warfare spread the disease to the city which then led to the spread of the disease in Europe, and from Europe to North Africa and the Middle-East.[661][662]
All famines in India under British influence 12,000,000[663] 51,000,000[663] 24,738,634 India 1757 1947 190 years Between 12 and 51 million Indians (or even more) died of starvation while India was under British rule (East India Company and British Raj). Millions of tonnes of wheat were exported to Britain as famine raged.[663]
Indian famine of 1896–1897 and the Indian famine of 1899–1900 8,400,000 19,000,000[664] 12,633,289 British India 1896 1900 4 years ENSO famines. See also: Late Victorian Holocausts.
Great Chinese Famine 2,600,000[665] 55,000,000[666] 11,958,261 China 1958 1962 4 years During the Great Leap Forward under Mao Zedong tens of millions of Chinese starved to death.[667] State violence during this period further exacerbated the death toll, and some 2.5 million people were beaten or tortured to death in connection with Great Leap policies.[668]
Famine and disease caused by Japanese imperialism 8,136,000 14,936,000 11,023,579 Japanese Empire 1937 1945 8 years Combined death tolls from famine and disease from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
See also: World War II casualties
Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879 9,000,000[citation needed] 13,000,000 10,816,654 China 1876 1879 3 years ENSO famine.
See also: Late Victorian Holocausts
Great Bengal famine of 1770 10,000,000[669] 10,000,000[669] 10,000,000 British Bengal 1769 1773 4 years The famine killed a third of the Bengali population at the time.[670] It is attributed to the policies of the ruling British East India Company.[670]
Great Famine of 1876–1878 6,100,000 10,320,000[671] 7,934,230 British India 1876 1878 2 years ENSO famine. See also: Late Victorian Holocausts.
Russian famine of 1921–22 5,000,000[672] 10,000,000[672] 7,071,068 Soviet Russia 1921 1922 1 year May have been exacerbated by War Communism policies, but it is debatable to which extent.

See also: Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union, and Russian Civil War, with its policy of War communism, especially prodrazvyorstka.

Famine and disease caused by the Second Sino-Japanese War 5,000,000 10,000,000 7,071,068 China 1937 1945 8 years See also: World War II casualties.
Soviet famine of 1932–33 4,400,000 9,100,000 6,327,717 Soviet Union 1932 1933 1 year The majority of famine victims were Ukrainian. Many nations, including Ukraine, regard the famine's effect in the Ukraine as a genocide against Ukraine, known as the Holodomor.

1.8 – 4.8 million: Ukraine

600,000 – 2.3 million: Kazakhstan

2 million: Elsewhere

Famine and disease caused by World War I 5,411,000 6,100,000 5,745,181 Worldwide 1914 1918 4 years See also: World War I casualties.
Famine and disease caused by the Second Congo War 3,800,000 5,400,000 4,529,901 Africa 1998 2004 6 years Majority of those who died in war perished from famine and disease.
Iranian famine of 1917–1919 2,000,000[673][674] 10,000,000[675][676] 4,472,136 Iran 1917 1919 3 years The Persian famine of 1917–1919 was a period of widespread mass starvation and disease in Persia (Iran). The famine took place in the occupied territory of Iran that had declared neutrality. According to the estimates acknowledged, 2–10 million people died of hunger and disease. A variety of factors are commented to have caused and contributed to the famine such as war profiteering, and poor harvests but mainly requisitioning and confiscation of foodstuffs by the occupying Russian and British armies.[677][678]
Famine and disease caused by Decommunization 4,000,000+[412] 4,000,000+ 4,000,000+ Former States of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc 1991 2000 9 years Deaths caused by decrease in living conditions in Russia and other former Communist States after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Bengal famine of 1943 800,000[citation needed] 3,800,000 3,464,102 British India 1943 1944 1 year The Japanese conquest of Burma cut off India's main supply of rice imports,[679] however, war-related administrative policies in British India ultimately helped to cause the massive death toll.[680][681]
Famine and diseased caused by the Biafran Blockade during Nigeria's Civil War 2,000,000[682] 3,000,000[683][684] 2,449,490 Nigeria 1967 1970 3 years More than two million Igbo died from the famine imposed deliberately through blockades during the war. Lack of medicine also contributed. Thousands starved to death daily as the war progressed.[citation needed]
Famine and disease during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies 2,400,000[685] 2,400,000 2,400,000 Indonesia 1944 1945 1 year An estimated 2.4 million Indonesians starved to death during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. The problem was partly caused by failures of the main 1944–45 rice crop, but the main cause was the compulsory rice purchasing system that the Japanese authorities put in place to secure rice for distribution to the armed forces and urban population.[685]
Soviet famine of 1946–1947 1,000,000 1,500,000 1,224,745 Soviet Union 1946 1947 1 year Debated as to whether it was caused by war or government policy.
Great Irish Famine 750,000[686][687] 1,500,000[688] 1,060,660 Ireland 1846 1849 3 years Although blight ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, the impact and human cost in Ireland, where a third of the population was significantly dependent on the Irish Lumper potato for food, was exacerbated by a host of political, social and economic factors, which continue to remain the subject of historical debate.[689][690]
Vietnamese famine of 1945 400,000[691] 2,000,000[692] 894,427 Vietnam 1944 1945 1 year The Japanese occupation during World War II caused the famine in North Vietnam.[692]
Cambodian Holocaust Famine 800,000[693] 950,000[694] 871,780 Cambodia 1975 1979 4 years An estimated 2 million Cambodians died as the result of murder, forced labor, and famine, perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, nearly half of which was caused by forced starvation. Came to an end due to invasion by Vietnam in 1979.
1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia 400,000[695] 1,000,000[696] 632,456 Ethiopia 1983 1985 2 years The famines that struck Ethiopia between 1961 and 1985, especially the one of 1983–1985, were in large part created by government policies.[695]
Famine and disease during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines 336,000 336,000 336,000 Philippines 1942 1945 3 years See also: World War I casualties.
North Korean famine 240,000[697] 420,000[697] 317,490 North Korea 1994 1998 4 years The famine stemmed from a variety of factors. Economic mismanagement and the loss of Soviet support caused food production and imports to decline rapidly. A series of floods and droughts exacerbated the crisis, but were not its direct cause. The North Korean government and its centrally-planned system proved too inflexible to effectively curtail the disaster. Recent research suggests the likely number of excess deaths between 1993 and 2000 was about 330,000.[697][698]
Cuban War of Independence Famine 300,000 300,000[699][700] 300,000 Cuba 1895 1898 3 years Most of dead in this war perished from famine and disease.
Famine in the Tigray War (Plus lack of medical care) 250,000 300,000 273,861 Tigray, Ethiopia 2020 present 3 years Belgium's Ghent University's 2022 estimates put the number of dead at due to the war at 300,000 to 500,000 including 50,000 to 100,000 deaths from fighting, 150,000 to 200,000 deaths due to famine and 100,000 deaths from lack of medical attention.[701]
Bangladesh famine of 1974 27,000[1] 1,500,000[2] 201,246 Bangladesh April 1974 December 1974 8 months Severe rainfall and consequent floods of the Brahmaputra river caused bad harvests, coupled with completely unprepared government policies, brought to the death of millions of Bangladeshis (mostly in the Rangpur region) during the famine and consequent high mortality rates after the end of the crisis (estimated 450 thousand people died because of diseases and weakened immunity systems).
Great Famine of Mount Lebanon 200,000 200,000 200,000 Mount Lebanon, Ottoman Empire 1915 1918 3 years Around 200,000 people starved to death at a time when the population of Mount Lebanon was estimated at 400,000.[702] The Mount Lebanon famine caused the highest fatality rate by population of World War I. Bodies were piled in the streets, and people were reported to be eating street animals, while some resorted to cannibalism.[703]
1998 Sudan famine 70,000[704] 70,000 70,000 Sudan 1998 1998 ? The famine was caused almost entirely by human rights abuse and the war in Southern Sudan.[705]
Famine in Yemen (2016–present) 50,000 children[706] 50,000 children[706] 50,000 children[706] Yemen 2016 present 2 years The famine was triggered by Saudi Arabia's intervention into the Yemeni Civil War, which is backed by Western powers including the United States.[707] Around 13 million people, or roughly half of the country's population, is facing starvation in what the UN calls "the worst famine in the world in 100 years".[708]

Floods and landslides [edit]

Main articles: List of deadliest floods, List of natural disasters by death toll § Floods and landslides, and List of landslides

These are floods and landslides that have been partially caused by humans, for example by failure of dams, levees, seawalls or retaining walls.

Event Lowest estimate Highest estimate Geom. mean estimate[1] Location From Until Duration Notes
1931 China floods 2,500,000[709] 3,700,000[709] 3,041,381 China 1931 1931 ?
1887 Yellow River (Huang He) flood 900,500[710] 930,000[711] 915,131 China 1887 1887 ?
1938 Yellow River (Huang He) flood 400,000[citation needed] 800,000[citation needed] 591,608 China 1938 1938 ?
Flight of the Boat People 200,000[104][494] 560,000[104][494] 334,664 Gulf of Thailand and Pacific Ocean 1978 1979 1 year
1935 Yangtze flood 145,000[citation needed] 145,000[citation needed] 145,000[citation needed] China 1935 1935 ?
St. Felix's flood, storm surge more than 100,000[citation needed] more than 100,000[citation needed] more than 100,000[citation needed] Netherlands 1530 1530 ?
Hanoi and Red River Delta flood 100,000[citation needed] 100,000[citation needed] 100,000 North Vietnam 1971 1971 ?
1911 Yangtze river flood 100,000[citation needed] 100,000[citation needed] 100,000 China 1911 1911 ?
The failure of 62 dams in Zhum

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