Cambodian Genocide / Khmer Rouge

2,000,000

disputed broad estimate

Nearly two million deaths under Khmer Rouge rule is a widely used demographic estimate, but the display split between 300,000 military and 1.7 million civilian deaths is not defensible as a precise allocation. Most victims died from execution, forced labor, starvation, and disease rather than conventional combat.

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

Military Dead

Working allocation: 300,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.

Khmer Rouge regime — 50,000 military dead

Cambodian civilians / Vietnamese forces — 250,000 military dead

Civilian Dead

1,700,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.

Civilian dead — 1,700,000

Deadliest Engagements

Collectivization of Cambodia500,000

incl. 500,000 civilians

Eastern Zone Purges100,000

incl. 50,000 civilians

Cambodia–Vietnam Border War30,000

incl. 20,000 civilians

Vietnamese Invasion of Cambodia30,000

Forced Evacuation of Phnom Penh20,000

incl. 20,000 civilians

Tuol Sleng / S-21 Prison17,000

incl. 17,000 civilians

Khmer Rouge Jungle Resistance10,000

incl. 2,000 civilians

Fall of Phnom Penh2,000

For Perspective

How Khmer Rouge's dead compare to other conflicts and events.

Khmer Rouge — working total2,000,000

Percentage of Cambodian population killed25

S-21 prisoners processed17,000

Mass grave sites discovered20,000

Years until first conviction35

Milestones of Loss

1 dead

Scholarly estimates of total deaths range from 1.5 million to 2.2 million; the most widely cited figure is approximately 1.7–2 million, representing 21–25% of Cambodia's 1975 population of ~8 million

1,982 dead

The Khmer Rouge continued to hold Cambodia's United Nations seat until 1982 due to Cold War geopolitics — recognized as the legitimate government while the killing was ongoing and after

2,000 dead

Chinese Cambodians, Vietnamese Cambodians, Cham Muslims, and Buddhist monks were specifically targeted for elimination; the Cham community lost an estimated one-third to one-half of its pre-war population

4,000 dead

Unlike the Holocaust, the Cambodian genocide left almost no surviving institutional infrastructure: virtually all doctors, teachers, engineers, lawyers, and monks were dead or had fled by 1979

Figures are working historical estimates and vary across sources. Labels identify totals that are reported, disputed, or unknown; numerical allocations may be retained for comparison without implying exact knowledge. Each number represents human lives, not false precision.