Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) (PRIO) Updates

About the WPS Index The 2025/26 global Women Peace and Security Index (WPS Index) scores and ranks 181 countries on women’s wellbeing. It uses 13 indicators that span women’s inclusion, justice, and...

Håvard Hegre Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Armed conflict is a global problem that threatens human life and the safety of human beings. In order to reduce the suffering due to armed conflict,...

Armed conflict is at its highest level in decades, while development assistance – critical for conflict prevention – is declining. This PRIO Paper investigates the relationship between development...

Ukraine, Palestine/Israel, Sudan, Pakistan and Nigeria are projected to see the highest battle-related death tolls in 2026, according to a world-leading AI-driven conflict forecasting system. The...

Record high: One in five children in conflict zones 2024 was not a good year for peace. Conflict levels around the world stayed alarmingly high – in fact, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP)...

2024 marked the highest number of state-based conflicts on record since 1946. It was also the f ifth deadliest year since the end of the Cold War, with approximately 160,000 fatalities across all...

Nina von Uexkull, Halvard Buhaug Abstract Concerns about adverse security implications of climate change have fostered a boom­ing research agenda and have also gained increasing traction in...

New data shows conflict at historic high as U.S. signals retreat from world stage The world is experiencing a surge in violence not seen since the post-World War II era. 2024 marked a grim new...

Hegre, Håvard; Paola Vesco; Michael Colaresi; Jonas Vestby; Alexa Timlick; Noorain Syed Kazmi; Angelica Lindqvist-McGowan; Friederike Becker; Marco Binetti; Tobias Bodentien; Tobias Bohne; Patrick...

Stefan Döring Despite frequent warnings of ‘water wars’, conflicts over water rarely escalate into violence. While most disputes over water access, quantity, or infrastructure remain non-violent, the...

PRIO launched a conflict prediction challenge in 2023 to enhance the accuracy and usefulness of conflict early-warning systems, by inviting researchers to forecast the number of fatalities in...

Jensehaugen, Jørgen; Kjersti G. Berg & Lex Takkenberg (2025) Consequences of the Israeli UNRWA Ban, MidEast Policy Brief, 1. Oslo: PRIO From 28 January 2025 Israel will implement two anti-UNRWA laws,...

Gudrun Østby Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Siri Aas Rustad Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) In 2023, more than three quarters of the world’s children lived in a country experiencing...

PRIO has received the news that the three-year project Recording Explosive Munitions for the analysis of WAR crimes (REMWAR) will be funded by the Research Council of Norway. Russian forces in...

Last year saw the highest number of state-based conflicts since 1946. In addition, the past three years were the most violent in the last three decades, according to PRIO.

Gudrun Østby Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Siri Aas Rustad Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Kristine Helskog Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Children are particularly vulnerable in...

Obermeier, Anna Marie (2023) Conflict Trends in Asia, 1989–2022, PRIO Policy Brief, 6. Oslo: PRIO. Over the past two years, government takeovers and coup d’états have been defining features of the...

The sharp increase in battle-related deaths globally in 2022 was driven primarily by the conflict between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). In 2022, 58% of...

For the past decade, the Middle East has been home to some of the deadliest conflicts in the world, but the region saw a de-escalation in 2022. Following ceasefires in both Syria and Yemen, the...

Denmark leads the 2023 rankings as the top country to be a woman, scoring more than three times than Afghanistan at the bottom. Yemen ranks second-lowest and CAR third-lowest in the global listing.