Less War, Fewer War Dead - It's Official

These are good times, according to the Human Security Report 2005.

Since 1992, armed conflicts around the world have fallen by 40%, and deadly wars by a whopping 80%.

In fact, the average number of fatalities per conflict has fallen from 38,000 in 1950 to just over 600 in 2002.

However, before we break out the kalashnikovs and start firing wildly into the night in celebration of our peace-loving ways, there is a caveat - the report admits that it doesn't have figures from two of the current and deadliest warzones in the world: Iraq and Darfur.

And while the number of international wars has plummeted, and the major powers have now gone longer without fighting one another than at any other time in centuries past, acts of terrorism and civil conflicts have risen.

Welcome to the new and ever-changing face of political violence. The battleground is your city, the frontlines are your neighbourhood streets, kids with handmade mortars take potshots at buildings across town, and suicide bombers are the mass weapons of choice.

Bt fewer of us are getting killed. Woo-hoo.