Taking up arms

Houthis are attacking ships in the Red Sea, Russia invaded Ukraine, and Isreal and Hamas are at war. It seems the number of conflicts around the world is increasing. Indeed, this is also what the data shows with the number of armed conflicts increasing from about 110 in 2012 to 182 in 2022. Violance has increased across conflict categories with one-sided and non-state violence both up 67%, intrastate up 63% and interstate up 200%. Several factors are contributing to the outbreak and continuation of armed conflicts such as political instability, social inequalities, ethnic and religious tensions, resource scarcity, climate change and external intervention. Global tensions could lead to reduced access to or preference for certain products and services e.g., trade bans, changing consumer preferences and increased production costs.

Source: Uppsala Conflict Data Program, Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2023.