In 2025, the global landscape is marked by several major armed conflicts, each with profound humanitarian and geopolitical consequences. The war in Ukraine, entering its fourth year, remains one of the deadliest, with over 233,000 reported deaths in 2024 alone, driven by Russia’s intensified military pressure and Ukraine’s resilient defense despite waning Western support. The Israel-Hamas conflict, sparked by the October 2023 attack, continues to devastate Gaza, with local authorities reporting over 45,000 deaths, mostly civilians, and 90% of the population displaced amid widespread destruction. Sudan’s civil war, now in its third year, has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 150,000 civilian deaths, 14.6 million displaced, and 30.4 million people—over half the population—needing aid due to famine and violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces. Myanmar’s civil war, reignited by the 2021 coup, also ranks among the most intense, with over 170 distinct armed groups active weekly, contributing to 3 million displaced and significant infrastructure damage. These conflicts, characterized by high casualty rates and international involvement, dominate global attention due to their scale and potential for escalation.

Several high-intensity conflicts, involving 1,000 to 9,999 deaths annually, further contribute to global instability. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fighting between government forces and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels has displaced 6.3 million people, with 25 million facing severe food insecurity, despite a fragile U.S.-mediated ceasefire in June 2025. The Sahel region, particularly Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, sees escalating jihadist violence from groups like JNIM and ISGS, with Burkina Faso alone reporting over 1,800 civilian deaths in early 2024. In Syria, the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in late 2024 has shifted conflict dynamics, but 16.7 million people—70% of the population—still require humanitarian aid due to ongoing violence and infrastructure collapse. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, intensified by Israeli offensives in 2024, has further destabilized the region, with Iran’s proxies and direct Israel-Iran strikes raising fears of broader Middle Eastern escalation. These conflicts, while less deadly than the major wars, pose significant regional risks and exacerbate humanitarian crises.

Minor conflicts and tensions, though less deadly, also shape the 2025 global security landscape. In the South China Sea, escalating clashes between China and the Philippines, particularly around the Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal, risk drawing in the U.S. due to defense pacts, with incidents like ship collisions highlighting the potential for miscalculation. North and South Korea face heightened tensions, with increased skirmishes along their borders and regional flight disruptions expected in 2025. In Pakistan, rising militancy from Baloch separatists and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has made 2024 one of its most violent years, with political instability fueling further unrest. Haiti’s gang violence, ranking it among the top 10 conflicts in ACLED’s Conflict Index, has plunged the country into a humanitarian catastrophe, with international stabilization efforts failing to curb the crisis. These smaller-scale conflicts, often involving non-state actors or localized disputes, contribute to a global doubling of conflict events since 2020, affecting 2 billion people in war-torn regions and straining international response mechanisms.