The 2015 edition of the Global Burden of Armed Violence provides a wealth of data relevant to security and the post-2015 sustainable development framework. It estimates that 508,000 people died violently—in both conflict and non-conflict settings—every year in 2007–12, down from 526,000 in 2004–09. This trend is visible in non-conflict settings, where the proportion of women and girls is also slightly reduced, from 17 to 16 per cent. Yet the number of direct conflict deaths is on the rise: from 55,000 to 70,000 per year over the same periods. Firearms are used in close to half of all homicides committed and in almost one-third of direct conflict deaths.

This research reveals that nearly USD 2 trillion in global violence-related economic losses could have been saved, had the global homicide rate in 2000–10 been reduced to levels below 3 deaths per 100,000 population—significantly lower than the average rate of 7.4 per 100,000 exhibited in 2007–12. Such savings would have been equivalent to 2.64 per cent of the global GDP in 2010.

This volume examines how a comprehensive approach to violent deaths can serve to track progress towards a peace and security goal—whether as part of the post-2015 development framework or as a goal in and of itself.