War Deaths Underreported by a factor of 3 ...

The study (at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, Washington) contradicts previous studies that suggest deaths due to armed conflicts have dropped significantly since the Korean war.

In Bangladesh, for example, the researchers estimate that 269,000 people died violently in the 1971 war for independence, compared to previous estimates of 58,000. And comparing their estimate with previous estimates decade by decade, the researchers conclude that "there is no evidence" for a decreasing trend in war-related deaths since the 1950s.

The team focused on World Health Organization data from the 13 countries in which people reported the highest number of sibling deaths due to war. These include some of the deadliest conflicts in the latter half of the 20th century, such as those in Vietnam, Zimbabwe, and Bosnia. Of the 43,874 deaths noted by siblings in the surveys, 917 were reported to be the result of war injuries. Using census data for each country, the team extrapolated a figure of 5.4 million war-related deaths in these 13 countries between 1955 and 2002.

That figure is three times higher than estimates compiled a few years ago for global war-related deaths over the same period ...

It's not like governments (like ol' freedom lovin' US) and others (Blackwater, anyone) don't have an incentive to underreport deaths, unless of course, they are trying to show progress in which case they may inflate the 'enemy' body count while ignoring 'collateral' murders (or just count all bodies, civilian men, women and children at enemy deaths).

Nasty business, governments and wars ...