UPPSALA, June 9 -- The world in 2025 was more violent than at any point since the generation that built the modern international order walked off the battlefields of the Second World War. The planet recorded 65 active armed conflicts, and the number of wars fought directly between states doubled to eight, the highest count since researchers began tracking the data in 1946, according to the annual assessment released this week by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program. Around 244,600 people were killed in organised violence over the year, the second bloodiest toll since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Of the 65 conflicts, 13 crossed the threshold the researchers classify as full war, meaning more than 1,000 people killed in combat over the year, th...