# What do these numbers mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954 "2022-08-19T16:38:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954/1 "2022-08-19T16:38:30Z")
1. **Religious Conflict & War.** Political conflict has drastically increased over the years. Terrorism and the rise of religiously-motivated [insurgent groups](https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2018/global-military-spending-remains-high-17-trillion) have forced the hand of several governments. As a result, defense spending around the world has risen steadily since 1995 to $1.7 trillion. While terrorism may be on the rise, the good news is that diplomacy and peace efforts have decreased the number of civil wars and intra-state conflicts around the world from 16 per 100,000 to about 1 per 100,000. 100,000 what??? 16 what??? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954/2 "2022-08-19T16:41:47Z")
Good question. What source are you quoting from? (I couldn’t find any reference to “16 per 100,000” in the source you linked to.) ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954/3 "2022-08-19T16:43:13Z")
Ditto. Consider asking the auhor. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954/4 "2022-08-19T16:43:34Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Good question. What source are you quoting from? (I couldn’t find any reference to “16 per 100,000” in the source you linked to.) [https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=0d3447df3f157e45JmltdHM9MTY2MDkyNzM1OCZpZ3VpZD1iZTVkNGI3My02ZDBkLTQyYjUtYWE2MC1lYzRiMTljYzc5Y2MmaW5zaWQ9NTE4Mg&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=ef3dee57-1fdd-11ed-9243-896a4d62e330&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9ib3JnZW5wcm9qZWN0Lm9yZy9iaWdnZXN0LWlzc3Vlcy1pbi10aGUtd29ybGQv&ntb=1](https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=0d3447df3f157e45JmltdHM9MTY2MDkyNzM1OCZpZ3VpZD1iZTVkNGI3My02ZDBkLTQyYjUtYWE2MC1lYzRiMTljYzc5Y2MmaW5zaWQ9NTE4Mg&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=ef3dee57-1fdd-11ed-9243-896a4d62e330&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9ib3JnZW5wcm9qZWN0Lm9yZy9iaWdnZXN0LWlzc3Vlcy1pbi10aGUtd29ybGQv&ntb=1) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954/5 "2022-08-19T16:45:59Z")
The only thing that seems to make a little bit of sense is that maybe they mean 1 out of 100,000 people is somehow affected by religious conflict of some kind. But even that is extremely weak. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954/6 "2022-08-19T16:49:57Z")
Yeah, I think they really need to provide a better explanation and/or cite for a claim like that. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954/7 "2022-08-19T16:52:30Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > The only thing that seems to make a little bit of sense is that maybe they mean 1 out of 100,000 people That’s how I would interpret it, lacking any additional information. But, I agree, it’s not clear. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-these-numbers-mean/969954/8 "2022-08-20T13:21:07Z")
I expect it’s people killed in war. This international statistic on causes of death lists deaths from “conflict” at about 0.82 per 100,000 in 2019. > **[Causes of death](https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death)** > > How did the causes of death change over time?