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The World Has 65 Active Wars Right Now. A Swedish Research Group Just Published the Data, and It’s the Worst Since World War II.
If it feels like the world is at war more than usual, that is because it is. A landmark new report published Monday by Uppsala University’s Conflict Data Program in Sweden has put a number to what many people have been sensing for years: 2025 recorded the highest number of conflicts between states since World War II, and more people were killed in organized violence than in any year since the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
According to NPR, which first reported on the Uppsala findings, there were 65 active armed conflicts worldwide in 2025. Of those, eight were direct conflicts between individual states, double the number recorded in 2024, and the highest tally since Uppsala began collecting data in 1946. The conflicts included the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Iran-Israel conflict, fighting between India and Pakistan, a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, and Israel’s operations in Syria and Yemen.
The human cost behind those numbers is staggering. The Russia-Ukraine war remained by far the deadliest, accounting for 62 percent of all battle-related deaths globally. Uppsala researchers estimated 77,700 Russian military deaths and approximately 14,000 Ukrainian military deaths in 2025 alone. “Russian battlefield losses have increased and Ukraine losses have remained relatively stable,” the researchers noted. The Israel-Hamas conflict was the second deadliest, with 14,400 documented fatalities in 2025, though that represented a decline from the previous year as ceasefire agreements took hold in Gaza.
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program is widely regarded as one of the most rigorous and authoritative sources on organized violence in the world. Its data is used by governments, the United Nations, and international courts. Unlike casualty estimates produced by warring parties themselves, Uppsala researchers cross-reference military and open-source data including social media to arrive at their figures.
Perhaps most sobering is the report’s assessment of the trajectory. The Uppsala researchers warned, as reported by multiple NPR member stations, that 2026 is showing no signs of reversing the trend. With the Iran war ongoing, the Russia-Ukraine conflict entering its fourth year, and tensions in the Pacific remaining elevated, the data collected so far this year suggests the number of active conflicts is likely to remain at or above 2025 levels.
For American readers, the relevance is direct. The United States is currently engaged in an active military conflict with Iran, its forces are still present in multiple theaters globally, and its military hardware and financial support are central to several of the conflicts the Uppsala report documents. The scale of global violence is not happening in a vacuum separate from American policy. It is, in significant part, shaped by it.
Why it matters: Numbers like 65 active conflicts can feel abstract. What they represent is 65 situations in which people are dying because states have decided that military force is a preferable option to negotiation. The Uppsala report does not assign blame. It counts. And what it has counted in 2025 is a world more at war than at any point in the past 80 years.
With 65 active conflicts and the worst death tolls since the 1990s, is the international system that was built after World War II to prevent this still functioning?
Trump
A Federal Judge Just Voided Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee, Calling It an Illegal Tax
The Trump administration’s most aggressive immigration measure targeting the tech industry has been struck down in federal court. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston ruled that the $100,000 supplementary fee imposed on new H-1B visa applications is an unconstitutional tax that the executive branch had no authority to create without congressional approval.
According to NPR, Judge Sorokin sided with 20 states that sued the administration, concluding that the fee violated the Administrative Procedure Act and exceeded the president’s powers. “The President has no authority to levy a tax unless such a power is delegated by Congress through statute,” Sorokin wrote in his 42-page ruling. The decision contradicts an earlier ruling by a federal court in Washington, D.C., which had upheld the fee, setting up a potential split between appellate circuits that may ultimately require the Supreme Court to resolve.
PBS NewsHour reported that the states argued the policy directly impeded their ability to hire teachers, university researchers, and healthcare workers. The fee, announced by Trump in September 2025, raised the cost of obtaining an H-1B visa from a typical range of $2,000 to $5,000 all the way to $100,000, effectively placing the program out of reach for hospitals, public universities, and smaller businesses that rely on foreign-born specialists.
CBS News confirmed that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had filed a separate challenge in Washington, D.C., which remains ongoing. A third lawsuit was also filed in San Francisco by religious groups and labor organizations, creating the unusual situation of three separate federal court cases producing potentially conflicting rulings in different appellate circuits.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell welcomed the decision. “Today’s victory protects the integrity of the H-1B visa program as a tool to address severe labor shortages in vital industries like education, healthcare, and medical research,” she said, according to NPR.
The H-1B program, created by Congress in 1990, allows 65,000 highly skilled foreign-born workers with bachelor’s degrees to work in the United States each year, with an additional 20,000 slots reserved for those holding advanced degrees from American universities. The tech sector in particular depends heavily on the program, and the $100,000 fee had been widely criticized by Silicon Valley companies since its announcement last year.
Why it matters: This ruling does not end the legal battle. With the Chamber of Commerce case still pending in D.C. and a third case in San Francisco, the administration has multiple avenues to appeal and potentially restore the fee. But for now, employers across healthcare, education, and technology sectors can resume standard H-1B filings without the $100,000 surcharge. How quickly the administration responds, and whether it seeks an emergency stay while it appeals, will determine how long this window remains open.
Should the US make it harder or easier for highly skilled foreign workers to enter the country?
