The United States is Responsible for Up To 1 Million Deaths in Iraq from 2003–2023
The Iraq War, which began in 2003 with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, resulted in a significant human cost, particularly in terms of civilian casualties.
According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, between 280,771 and 315,190 Iraqi civilians were killed by direct violence since the U.S. invasion.
This wide range of estimates is indicative of the complexities involved in assessing the impact of the war on the Iraqi population. The available data primarily focuses on civilian casualties, highlighting the significant human toll of the conflict.
Estimating the casualties from the Iraq War poses many challenges. Experts distinguish between population-based studies, which extrapolate from random samples of the population, and body counts, which tally reported deaths and likely significantly underestimate casualties.
Population-based studies produce estimates of the number of Iraq War casualties ranging from 151,000 violent deaths as of June 2006 (per the Iraq Family Health Survey) to 1,033,000 excess deaths (per the 2007 Opinion Research Business (ORB) survey).
