Uppsala Conflict Data Program

Battle-Related Deaths Dataset is conflict-year and dyad-year dataset with information on the number of battle-related deaths in the conflicts from 1989-2018 that appear in the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset. The definition of conflict inclusion in this dataset follows the UCDP definition of armed conflict. The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) defines an armed conflict as a contested incompatibility that concerns government and/or territory over which the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is the government of a state, has resulted in at least 25 battle-related deaths in one calendar year. Battle-related deaths refer to those deaths caused by the warring parties that can be directly related to combat. This includes traditional battlefield fighting, guerrilla activities (e.g. hitand-run attacks/ambushes) and all kinds of bombardments of military bases, cities and villages etc. Urban warfare (bombs, explosions, and assassinations) does not resemble what happens on a battlefield, but such deaths are considered to be battle-related. The target for the attacks is either the military forces or representatives for the parties, though there is often substantial collateral damage in the form of civilians being killed in the crossfire, indiscriminate bombings, etc. All fatalities – military as well as civilian – incurred in such situations are counted as battle-related deaths. The data on armed conflicts are compiled by calendar year. They include data on conflict location, type of incompatibility, year the incompatibility was formed, year the warring party began its use of armed force, warring parties, secondary support, negotiations, and battle-related deaths during the year. Variables description: Year - the year of observation. Location - The name of the country/countries whose government(s) has a primary claim to the object in dispute (the incompatibility), as given in the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset. Incompatibility - a general coding of the conflict issue, if the conflict is an incompatibility over government or over territory, as given in the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset. Territory Name - the name of the territory over which the conflict is fought, provided that the incompatibility is over territory, as given in the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset. Type of Conflict - the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset identifies four different types of conflict: extrasystemic (1), interstate (2), internal (3) and internationalized internal (4). Battle Location - the name of the country/countries in which battle-related deaths that can be related to the incompatibility have been recorded. Region - Identifies the region of the location. The following regions are given in the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset; Europe (1), Middle East (2), Asia (3), Africa (4), and the Americas (5). Best estimate - best estimate for battle-related deaths in the conflict/dyad in the given year Low estimate - low estimate for battle-related deaths in the conflict/dyad in the given year. High estimate - high estimate for battle-related deaths in the conflict/dyad in the given year.

This dataset is UCDP's most disaggregated dataset, covering individual events of organized violence (phenomena of lethal violence occurring at a given time and place). These events are sufficiently fine-grained to be geo-coded down to the level of individual villages, with temporal durations disaggregated to single, individual days. Citation: Sundberg, Ralph, and Erik Melander, 2013, “Introducing the UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset”, Journal of Peace Research, vol.50, no.4, 523-532 Croicu, Mihai and Ralph Sundberg, 2017, “UCDP GED Codebook version 18.1”, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University  

UCDP Non-State Conflict Dataset is a conflict-year dataset with information of communal and organized armed conflict where none of the parties is the government of a state. The dataset has a temporal scope covering 1989-2017, and includes information on start and end dates, fatality estimates, and locations. A non-state conflict is defined by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) as “the use of armed force between two organized armed groups, neither of which is the government of a state, which results in at least 25 battle-related deaths in a year". Variables description: Organization - this variable indicates the organizational level of the warring sides. The level of organization is determined according to the following categories:  Formally organized groups (organizational level 1): rebel groups and other organized groups that have a high enough level of organization so as to be possible to include in the state-based armed conflict category. These include rebel groups with an announced name, as well as military factions (Forces of…). This level of organization captures fighting between highly organized rebel groups and fatalities are recorded according to the criteria set for battle-related deaths in the state-based conflict category. Informally organized groups (organization level 2): groups composed of supporters and affiliates to political parties and candidates. These are commonly not groups that are permanently organized for combat, but who at times use their organizational structures for such purposes. In addition to supporters of political parties and candidates, included in this category is also fighting between groups composed of supporters of other organizations such as the supporters of al-Ahly football team fighting against the supporters of al-Masry football team in Egypt 2012. Informally organized groups (organizational level 3): groups that share a common identification along ethnic, clan, religious, national or tribal lines. These are not groups that are permanently organized for combat, but who at times organize themselves along said lines to engage in fighting. This level of organization captures aspects of what is commonly referred to as ‘communal conflicts’, in that conflict stands along lines of communal identity. Year - the year of observation of the non-state conflict. Yearly Best, Low and High fatality estimates - the general rule for UCDP’s estimation of fatalities is moderation. All incidents are ideally verified by two independent sources, and all estimates reported are grounded in UCDP’s expertise of each particular country. Due to the varying certainty of fatality reports, the project provides three estimates concerning battle-related deaths for each year: Best estimate - the best estimate is constructed by aggregating the best estimates for each individual event. If reports provide conflicting estimates, an examination is made as to what source is most reliable. If no such distinction can be made, UCDP employs the lower figure given. Low estimate - the low estimate is constructed by aggregating the low estimates for each individual event. If different reports provide different estimates and a higher estimate is considered more reliable, the low estimate is also reported if deemed reasonable. High estimate - the high estimate is constructed by aggregating the high estimates for each individual event. If different reports provide different estimates and a lower estimate is considered more or equally reliable, the high estimate is also reported if deemed reasonable. If there is uncertainty about exactly which party was involved in a given incident, it may also be included in the high estimate. Location - the geographical location of the activity in the non-state conflict. Location is a string variable, listing all countries in which the conflict is active. Region - region of location: Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Americas.

The UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset is a joint project between the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University and the Center for the Study of Civil War at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO). The main unit in this dataset is an “Armed Conflict” as defined by UCDP. UCDP defines conflict as: “a contested incompatibility that concerns government and/or territory where the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is the government of a state, results in at least 25 battle-related deaths.” The observation (or unit) is the conflict-year. Each conflict is listed in all years where fighting in one or more dyad(s) caused at least 25 battle-related deaths. Start dates frequently refer to years prior to the first calendar year of a conflict, as the start of a conflict might be in a year with less than 25 fatalities. Variables description: Location - the name(s) of the country/countries whose government(s) have a primary claim to the issue in dispute. Location is defined as the government side of a conflict, and should not be interpreted as the geographical location of the conflict. Incompatibility - a general coding of the conflict issue. The incompatibility is coded in three categories: "territory", "government", "government and territory". Year - year of observation. Intensity level - the intensity level in the dyad per calendar year. Two different intensity levels are coded: minor armed conflicts and wars. Minor: between 25 and 999 battle-related deaths in a given year. War: at least 1,000 battle-related deaths in a given year. Conflict type - four different types of conflict: extra systemic, interstate, internal and internationalized internal. 1) Extrasystemic armed conflict occurs between a state and a non-state group outside its own territory. (In the COW project, extra systemic war is subdivided into colonial war and imperial war, but this distinction is not used here.) These conflicts are by definition territorial, since the government side is fighting to retain control of a territory outside the state system. 2) Interstate armed conflict occurs between two or more states. 3) Internal armed conflict occurs between the government of a state and one or more internal opposition group(s) without intervention from other states. 4) Internationalized internal armed conflict occurs between the government of a state and one or more internal opposition group(s) with intervention from other states (secondary parties) on one or both sides. Region - identifying the region of the location. This variable groups the various conflicts into five geographical categories, dependent on the location of the conflict