Mortality Studies

On this page you can find information about the 4 main published mortality studies.

Iraq Body Count

"A Dossier on Civilian Casualties in Iraq, 2003-2005" is the first detailed account of all non-combatants reported killed or wounded during the first two years of the continuing conflict. The report, published by Iraq Body Count in association with Oxford Research Group, is based on comprehensive analysis of over 10,000 media reports published between March 2003 and March 2005.

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Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004

The COSIT/UNDP - Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004 reports and analyses the living conditions in Iraq as they were approximately one year after the change of regime in the country, as a result of the 2003 war.

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Iraqi Civilian War Casualties

Covering the period of March 21 - July 31, 2003.
Data collection by CIVIC Worldwide and Raed Jarrar, Director of Iraq Survey

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The Lancet

In October of 2004 The Lancet published a study titled "Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey" which provided an estimate that 98,000 Iraqis have died because of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This estimate (usually approximated to 100,000 deaths) includes all causes of death, both violent and nonviolent.

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Study Shows Civilian Death Toll in Iraq More Than 100,000

...I’m even more struck that here a year after our study came out, the first time the President has been asked about this was not by a reporter, but by someone from the public when he took a question.
-Les Roberts

On the 1,000th day of the U.S. war on Iraq, we look at a subject that usually receives little attention -- the Iraqi civilian death toll since the war began. We speak with Dr. Les Roberts, the lead researcher of a study released last year on the number of deaths in Iraq, which put the toll at more than 100,000. [includes rush transcript] President Bush was asked about the Iraqi civilian death toll on Monday following his speech at the Philadelphia World Affairs Council.

Q: Since the inception of the Iraqi war, I'd like to know the approximate total of Iraqis who have been killed. And by Iraqis I include civilians, military, police, insurgents, translators.

THE PRESIDENT: How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We've lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq.

Washington-based NGO calls for accurate civilian death toll

Report, IRIN

14 December 2005

BAGHDAD -- A Washington-based humanitarian organisation urged the US government this week to accurately count and identify all civilian casualties of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, following a recent announcement by US President George Bush that 30,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed to date.

"CIVIC believes the US military needs to keep statistics on civilian casualties, particularly those caused by US actions in Iraq," read a statement from the Campaign for Innocent Victims of Conflict (CIVIC).

Tara Sutton, Acting Field Director of CIVIC, said she believed that records were only being kept "to a certain extent" in the form of "after-incident reports" filed by the US military after any armed engagement.