The Human Consequences of Armed Conflict

by Marie Smyth

Status of those killed

Table 9.2 shows deaths which occurred between 1969 and 1994 (the year of the first IRA ceasefire) according to the status of the individuals involved.

From table 9.2 it emerges that civilians, rather than members of the security forces or republican or loyalist paramilitaries, form the largest category of deaths, accounting for over half of those killed. The percentages of civilian deaths decreased in the period 1972-73 during the post-internment violence and increased in 1974-76 with the proliferation of bombings and sectarian attacks.

Table 9.3 Age distribution of those killed

The proportion of civilian deaths increased again in the 1990s, although this is partly due to relatively low levels of security casualties.

Overall, members of paramilitary organisations make up 16 per cent of total deaths and the total security force deaths make up a further 30 per cent. In other contemporary armed conflicts, the percentage of civilian casualties is often around 80 to 90 per cent. The pattern is similar for injuries, with the proportion of injured security force personnel at around 30 per cent.

Gender

Those killed in the troubles have been overwhelmingly male (91.1 per cent) with more than nine out of ten of all fatal casualties men. Table 9.3 shows that the victims were skewed towards the younger age groups.

More than a third of victims were in the twenties, with over half in their twenties or thirties and one in six victims were aged 19 or less. The death risk to the 20-24 age group was more than twice as high as any group over 40. Just under a quarter of all victims was aged 21 or less and another half was aged 22-39. Almost three-quarters of those who died were under the age of 40.

Religion or ethno-political category

The religious (or ethno-political) breakdown of deaths in the Troubles is one of the most sensitive sets of figures, since it denies or supports the claims to greater suffering by one or other community. This analysis is shown in table 9.4. Religion was not recorded for victims from outside Northern Ireland (NNI). Furthermore, the data did not contain religious affiliation for a high proportion of deaths among Northern Ireland security forces, explaining the bulk of the 'not known' category.