Casualties of the Iraq War
Source
Iraqi deaths
March 2003
to...
Iraq Family Health
Survey
151,000 violent deaths.
June 2006
Lancet survey
601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess
deaths.
June 2006
Opinion Research Busi-
ness survey
1,033,000 violent deaths as a result of the
conflict.
August 2007
Iraq Body Count
91,059 – 99,431 violent civilian deaths as a res-
ult of the conflict.
February
2009
White and red flags, representing Iraqi and
American deaths, sit in the grass quad of The
Valley Library on the Corvallis, Oregon cam-
pus of Oregon State University. As part of the
traveling Iraq Body Count exhibit (not related
to Iraq Body Count project) the flags aim to
"raise awareness of the human cost of the
Iraq War."
Casualties of the conflict in Iraq since
2003 (beginning with the 2003 invasion of
Iraq, and continuing with the ensuing occu-
pation of Iraq coalition presence, as well as
the activities of the various armed groups op-
erating in the country) have come in many
forms, and the accuracy of the information
available on different types of Iraq War casu-
alties varies greatly.
The table below summarizes some of the
Iraqi casualty figures.
For troops in the U.S.-led multinational coali-
tion, the death toll is carefully tracked and
updated daily, and the names and photo-
graphs of those killed in action as well as in
accidents have been published widely.
Regarding the Iraqis, however, information
on both military and civilian casualties is
both less precise and less consistent. Given
the political significance of these figures and
the varied agendas of all parties, no source
can be considered free of bias. Estimates of
casualty levels are available from reporters
on the scene, from officials of involved organ-
izations, and from groups that summarize in-
formation on incidents reported in the news
media.
The word "casualties" in its most general
sense includes the injured as well as the
dead. Accounts of the number of coalition
wounded vary widely, partly because it is not
obvious what should be counted