The Human Cost
255,000
estimated total dead
Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.
70,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.
185,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.
incl. 7,000 civilians
incl. 800 civilians
incl. 600 civilians
incl. 300 civilians
incl. 200 civilians
How Iraq War's dead compare to other conflicts and events.
4,431 dead
4,431 US service members were killed in Iraq — more than the 2,977 killed in the 9/11 attacks that provided the political pretext for the war. Over 32,000 Americans were wounded, many grievously. The Veterans Affairs system processed more disability claims from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans than from any previous conflict.
20,000 dead
The civil war of 2006–2007 — when sectarian death squads were killing 3,000+ Iraqis per month — was the deadliest period of the war. Baghdad morgues counted hundreds of bodies daily, many showing signs of torture. Entire neighborhoods were ethnically cleansed as Sunni and Shia families fled mixed areas.
100,000 dead
The 2006 Lancet study estimated 655,000 excess deaths since the invasion — a figure disputed by the US and UK governments. The 2013 University Collaborative Iraq Mortality Study estimated 460,000 deaths. Iraq Body Count's count of documented violent civilian deaths passed 200,000. The true figure is unknown.
200,000 dead
The suicide bombing campaign by Al-Qaeda in Iraq and later ISIS targeted civilians specifically to provoke sectarian civil war. Zarqawi's stated strategy was to bomb Shia shrines and civilians to draw Shia militias into retaliatory attacks on Sunnis, creating a cycle of violence that would make US-backed governance impossible. It worked.