New update to the Global Violent Deaths (GVD) database

The Global Violent Deaths (GVD) database has been updated to include revised data on conflict deaths, intentional homicides, and killings during legal interventions between 2017 and 2021. The addition of the 2021 data to the GVD database—where the Small Arms Survey tracks and compiles statistics on violent deaths across 222 countries and territories—presents an alarming reversal in trends. The number of people who lost their life violently has dramatically increased in 2021, with firearms accounting for 45% of these deaths. This new data casts doubts on the possibility of achieving Target 16.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The GVD database is now stored in an open-access repository with a digital object identifier (DOI), making the database easier to cite.

Visit: The Global Violent Deaths (GVD) database

For more, check out:

• Turning Tides: A New Surge in Global Violent Deaths—our new blog post analysing the new 2021 data in the GVD database
• Infographic—a snapshot of the 2021 data
• Outputs on global violent deaths in our Resource Library

Other news from the Survey:

• New Regional Committee established to advise the project: ‘Pathway to Policy: Integrating Security and Public Health Responses to Firearms Trafficking and Violence in the Caribbean’
• New report on improvised explosive devices in West Africa
• New HSBA Briefing Paper on how Governor Rin Tueny Mabor has pacified opposition in Lakes state
• New Briefing Paper on the production of craft firearms in West Africa
• New HSBA Situation Update on power and violence in Warrap state, South Sudan