The Human Cost
150,000
disputed broad estimate
The 150,000 display total is a commonly cited estimate rather than a verified count; United Nations sources give totals ranging from about 120,000 to 150,000 or more. Missing people and the division between fighters and civilians remain uncertain.
Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.
Working allocation: 55,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.
95,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.
incl. 11,000 civilians
incl. 11,500 civilians
incl. 2,500 civilians
incl. 2,500 civilians
incl. 1,800 civilians
incl. 2,400 civilians
incl. 3,000 civilians
incl. 1,700 civilians
How Lebanon's dead compare to other conflicts and events.
241 dead
241 US Marines killed in the October 23, 1983 barracks bombing — the deadliest day for US forces since the Tet Offensive
3,000 dead
Sabra and Shatila: between 800 and 3,500 civilians killed in 36 hours — the Kahan Commission held Israel indirectly responsible
19,000 dead
The 1982 Israeli invasion and siege of Beirut killed an estimated 19,000 people, most of them Lebanese and Palestinian civilians
150,000 dead
Total death toll estimates range widely — some Lebanese historians cite 120,000 while others count up to 150,000 including foreign military deaths
1,000,000 dead
One million Lebanese — roughly 25% of the pre-war population — were displaced at some point during the fifteen-year conflict