Comparing the Syrian War by Numbers

 

 



               By now it is clear that the Syrian Civil War is a crisis that is unmatched in recent decades.  But just how bad is the Syrian conflict compared to others in the modern era?  I decided to research that facts and statistics behind the war so that it can be compared in terms of more comprehensible magnitude.

               The Syrian Civil War is an ongoing battle that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions more.  This conflict is engaging the entire world and doesn't seem to be coming to a conclusion anytime soon.  So far, about 70,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the conflict two years ago.  This is about 0.311% of the Syrian population.  Comparably, if 0.311% of the American population was killed, that would be about 976,066 people.  976,000 people is about 2/3 of the population of Suffolk County.  If you compare this death toll so far to the American Civil War (which lasted 4 years and 1 month compared to the Syrian War's 2 years currently), about 1.966% of the US population was killed.  That is about 618,222 deaths.  This shows clearly how rapidly the US population has increased, because in today's world, 0.3% of the population dying is more people than about 2% was in 1861.  If you compare deaths per month of both civil wars, the American Civil War resulted in about 12,617 deaths per month while the Syrian Civil War is currently at a pace of 3,043 deaths per month.   (CNN.com - By the numbers: Syria deaths)

               If we shift our focus from deaths to refugees and displacements occurring from the Syrian Civil War, the numbers are much larger.  There are currently about 2.14 million refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, and North Africa.  50% of these refugees are children.  That's the population of 3/4 of Long Island.  4,250,000 Syrians are internally displaced, meaning they were forced out of their homes but not able to make it to a bordering country.  This number is the same as the amount of people living in Kentucky today.  There are 6,800,000 Syrians that are in need of humanitarian assistance - the entire population of Arizona.  A rough estimate of 13,198,571 people in Syria are in need of some form of assistance that they cannot provide themselves.  That calculates to about 58% of the population of Syria, or a little more than the amount of people living in Illinois.

               It is clearly evident that the ongoing issue in Syria is a major worldwide issue.  Millions of people are in need of assistance, and comparing the amount of people to numbers that we as Americans can fathom more easily, it really brings to life the crisis of the war.