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Human Costs of War

The impacts of war are immediate and long-lasting... for those who wage them, for their families, and for those civilians caught in the crossfire.  The following are key findings of the human costs of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as reported by Costs of War.org.

US and Allied 

Killed and Wounded

 

  • Over 6,650 US troops have died, as have at least US 3,000 contractors

  • Coalition partners have died in large numbers: approximately 23,000 uniformed Afghans, Iraqis and other allies have died since 2001

  • Officially, over 106,000 US troops have been wounded by enemy attacks or were otherwise injured or made sick while in the war zones

  • Many more injuries and illnesses have been publicly recognized post-combat than in theater, with over 745,000 disability claims registered with the VA as of May 31, 2012

  • Signature wounds of the war are traumatic brain injury, PTSD, amputations, and spinal cord injuries

  • Toxic dust exposures in theater have been associated with high rates of respiratory, neurological, and cardiovascular disease in returning troops

  • Young people from the poorer neighborhoods of the US are over-represented among the casualties of the Iraq War

US Veterans and

Military Families

 

  • Of the 745,000 claims submitted - 675,000 veterans of these wars have been granted disability

  • The Army’s use of the determination that a soldier has a “pre-existing condition” has saved it over $12.5 billion

  • An unusually high percentage of young veterans have died since returning home, many as a result of drug overdose, suicide or vehicle crashes

  • The suicide rate doubled in the Army during the decade of the wars among both the deployed and the nondeployed. It is now the leading cause of death in the Army

  • More than 2 million American children have coped with a parent going to these wars

  • As many as one half million of those children may have become clinically depressed

  • Unemployment rates have been two percentage points higher among war veterans than civilians

Civilians Killed

and Wounded

 

Afghanistan

  • By conservative estimate, at least 16,725 Afghan civilians have been killed directly by the war’s violence

  • Insecurity greatly affects the availability of, and access to, healthcare

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Iraq

  • There have been at least 123,000-134,000 civilians killed by direct violence since the invasion 

  • Lack of health care and basic infrastructure remain threats to public health

  • A 2011 survey estimated that between 800,000 and a million Iraqi children have lost one or both parents

 

Pakistan

  • A major war, with US support and participation, has been ongoing in Pakistan - fueled by US funding and drone strikes

  • US drone strikes have killed approximately 2,600-3,000 people, some of them civilians, and remain deeply unpopular

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

 

Afghanistan

  • As of 2012, there remained 1.8 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and 447,547 estimated IDPs 

  • Many IDPs and returned refugees are forced to live in informal settlements 

  • Over half of all Afghans do not have clean water and 63 percent lack good sanitation

  • Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world and the highest rates of under-5 mortality in Asia

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Iraq

  • 2.8 million Iraqis, out of a population of 34 million, are displaced internally or into neighboring states

  • According to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, there are only 7 doctors for every 10,000 Iraqis

  • One in five Iraqi children shows stunted growth, a sign of malnutrition

  • The percent of Iraqis living in slum conditions tripled from 17 percent prior to 2003 to 53 percent in 2010

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