the past 15 years, along with battle-related deaths. Indirect deaths–the hidden cost of war–is one of the two main themes of the later Human Security Report 2009/2010. Indirect deaths are driven by the intensity and scope of political violence. The 2009/2010 Report argues that, since humanitarian assistance has increased on a per capita basis and since recent peacetime health interventions–primarily immunization–reduce death tolls in wartime, it is highly likely that indirect deaths from war-exacerbated disease and malnutrition have declined to a greater degree than have "direct" deaths from violent injuries. Since the 2005 Report appeared, the data on armed conflict trends, which comes from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, indicates that there has been a 25% increase in the overall number of conflicts in which a state is one of the warring parties, but that the number of high-intensity conflicts (those generating 1,000 or more battle deaths in a year) have continued to decline and are now some 68% lower than at the end of the Cold War. External links Press Release Official Web Site and Report Human Security Report Project Website Oxford University Press Peace and Conflict Current affairs books