Figures checked by independent sources, without taking sides. Every number is a person.
244,600 people killed in organised violence worldwide
Source: UCDP, Uppsala University, Journal of Peace Research, June 2026. State-based conflicts, best estimate. The world total also includes killings of civilians (≈76,500) and fighting between armed groups (≈14,500).
6,266 children killed and 7,958 maimed, verified by the UN
Source: UN Secretary-General report on children and armed conflict, 16 June 2026. Verified cases only; 4,588 deaths in Gaza were still being verified.
×7 from 34,206 deaths in 2010 to 244,579 in 2025
Source: Our World in Data, based on UCDP (2026). Combatants and civilians killed in fighting, best estimate; deaths from disease and hunger are not included. The first half of 2026 (76,671) is not shown because the year is incomplete.
14,224 children killed or maimed in 2025, the highest number the UN has ever verified, against at least 3,567 in 2010
Source: UN Secretary-General annual reports on children and armed conflict (2023, 2024, 2025). Verified cases only; 2016 and 2017 are given as "over 8,000" and "over 10,000". Before 2016 the UN published no world total: the dashed line (2010–2015) is The Hug Zone's own sum of the country-by-country figures in the same annual reports (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). These are verified minimums, not UN totals, and real numbers were higher (Syria, for example, was barely documented before 2014).
Behind every number there is someone who needs a hug.
Send one now$2,887bn in 2025, the 11th rise in a row, 2.5% of world GDP
Source: SIPRI, April 2026; yearly headline totals in current US dollars. The historical comparison will be quantified with the Correlates of War dataset (military spending since 1816) and reviewed by a historian.
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