Rates of Warfare

These two figures show the rate of warfare (number of inter-state and civil wars started per state in the international system per decade) and the total deaths per decade. This data only goes to 1997. Fewer wars were started in the 1980s and than in the 1990s according to Fig. 4. but the total number of ongoing wars in the 1980s was higher than in the 1990s. Nevertheless, the 1980s and 1990s had the lowest number of wars initiated.

From Meredith Reid Sarkees, Frank Whelon Wayman, J. David Singer, "Inter-State, Intra-State, and Extra-State Wars: A Comprehensive Look at Their Distribution over Time, 1816–1997,"  International Studies Quarterly 47:1 (March 2003), p.64.