Lest we forget
Today we remember the 28.645 New Zealanders who died overseas serving their country.
We also remember the millions of others who have died in conflicts. Since 1990 the most lethal conflicts have been:
- 1939 – 1945 WWII – 60 million killed
- 1914 – 1918 WWI – 17 million killed
- 1927 – 1949 Chinese Civil War – 8 million killed
- 1917 – 1921 Russian Civil War – 6.7 million killed
- 1998 – 2003 Second Congo War – 3.6 million killed
- 1979 – 2000 Afghanistan War – 2.6 million killed
If we go further back the most lethal conflict as a proportion of population would be the Three Kingdoms War between 220 and 280 AD. This reduced the population from around 56 million to 16 million so over two thirds killed.