The Human Cost

The Falklands War

910

estimated total dead

Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.

Military Dead

907 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.

Argentina — 649 military dead
United Kingdom — 255 military dead

Civilian Dead

3 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.

Civilian dead — 3

Deadliest Engagements

Sinking of the General Belgrano323
San Carlos Landings ('Bomb Alley')100
Battle of Mount Tumbledown58

incl. 3 civilians

Battle of Goose Green57
Battle of Mount Longdon56
Sinking of HMS Coventry and Atlantic Conveyor31
Argentine Invasion of the Falklands20
Sinking of HMS Sheffield20

For Perspective

How Falklands War's dead compare to other conflicts and events.

Falklands War — total dead910
Ships sunk (Britain)6
Argentine aircraft lost75
Belgrano casualties323
Argentine POWs11,313

Milestones of Loss

6 dead

Britain lost 6 ships sunk and 11 damaged; no Argentine surface vessels were lost after the Belgrano, as the fleet withdrew to port for the remainder of the conflict

18 dead

Many Argentine conscripts were teenagers as young as 18, inadequately equipped for the South Atlantic winter — some suffered severe frostbite and near-starvation

74 dead

The war lasted exactly 74 days, from April 2 to June 14, 1982

152 dead

Three British civilian deaths were Falkland Islanders killed by misdirected British naval gunfire

350 dead

The Argentine air force flew over 350 combat sorties and displayed extraordinary courage in low-level attacks, often at extreme range from their bases on the mainland

All figures are historical estimates and vary across sources. The true human cost of war is impossible to fully quantify — these numbers represent the best scholarly consensus. Each number was a person with a name, a family, and a life unlived.