Armed conflicts and the body count : an issue for population studies and development : general introduction - Pérouse de Montclos, Marc-Antoine (Violence, statistics, and the politics of accounting for the dead)
Mortality is an important indicator of development and population change. Statistically, it serves many purposes, for instance in determining life expectancy and calculating the human development index. In times of crisis, more precisely, excess mortality is a key indicator to assess both the impact of a disaster and basic needs for reconstruction. In case of war, it can help alert the international community to the necessity to provide relief and, sometimes, send troops to enforce peace. Humanitarian workers also use the statistics of excess mortality to evaluate their performance. Meanwhile, the military and jurists rely on the body count of victims to declare "war" or "peace". And policy makers and aid practitioners who link development to human security need to know how many people died in order to know how many still live.
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