The world has become more peaceful and despite wars in Syria and Middle East fewer people are dying in armed conflicts, scientists say

• Experts looked at ‘all possible’ wars, the countries involved and battle death tolls

• One leading researcher said Korean War had appeared to be a ‘breaking point’

• Change since then is ‘an indication the world has become a more peaceful place’

• The research was carried out by Norway’s Peace Research Institute Oslo

By Julian Robinson for MailOnline Published: 10:08 EST, 25 February 2019 | Updated: 11:34 EST, 25 February 2019

The world has become a more peaceful place with fewer people dying in armed conflicts, scientists have claimed.

Experts from Norway’s Peace Research Institute Oslo examined statistics from ‘all possible’ wars, the countries involved, and how many people were killed.

Research director Håvard Mokleiv Nygård suggested the Korean War in the early 1950s may have been a ‘breaking point’ signalling a change in the number of people killed in battle.

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The world has become a more peaceful place with fewer people dying in armed conflicts, scientists have found. Research director Håvard Mokleiv Nygård suggested the Korean War (file picture) in the early 1950s may have been a ‘breaking point’ signalling a change in the number of people killed in battle

‘The wars after the Korean War (1950–1953) have killed a quarter as many people as the wars before the Korean War,’ he said.

‘The change after this breaking point is an indication that the world has become a more peaceful place,’ adding Nygård, whose researchers work alongside statisticians at the University of Oslo.

Nygard said ‘extensive use of statistics’ was used by the institute, which aims to find out why war happens, how war develops and what steps can be taken to halt conflicts.

He added: ‘The distribution of the number of people dying in war does not follow any normally distributed curve. There are many wars in the middle of the curve with a certain number of killed and few wars on the curve’s extremes, with few or many killed.

‘Wars can erupt that kill a great many people. An example is the Second World War. A Third World War can also occur, in principle, with 150 million killed.’

The findings come despite the fact battles are still raging on a number of fronts in war-torn Syria.

Last year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said about 511,000 people had been killed in the Syrian war since it began in 2011.

In December it was reported that more than 60,000 had been killed in two years in Yemen, another country ripped apart by war.