Global Deaths from Firearms: Searching for Plausible Estimates

Abstract

A commonly-cited statistic is that 500,000 people around the world every year are killed by firearms: three hundred thousand in war, and two hundred thousand in peaceful countries. Examining the international data, the article concludes that the data supported by the organizations which created the 500,000 figure do not support the figure. In particular, wartime deaths from firearms are probably closer to 100,000 annually than to 300,000. In response to this article, the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey produced a report which supplied much more extensive, and plausible, support for the figure of 200,000 non-war deaths.

Keywords: Small arms and light weapons, global deaths, World Health Organization

JEL Classification: J18, K14, K42