Thirty Years of the Troubles Kill Over 3,500 People
Republican and loyalist paramilitaries, and the British state, fight a low-level war in Northern Ireland for a generation
Quick facts
- Conflict period
- 1969-1998 (Sutton Index: 1969-2001)
- Total deaths (Sutton Index)
- 3,532
- Civilian deaths
- 1,840
- British security force deaths
- 1,114
What happened
From 1969, sectarian and political violence escalated in Northern Ireland into a sustained low-intensity conflict known as the Troubles, fought primarily between republican paramilitaries seeking a united Ireland, loyalist paramilitaries seeking to preserve the union with Britain, and British security forces. The most widely used tally, the Sutton Index of Deaths maintained by Ulster University's CAIN archive, records 3,532 deaths connected to the conflict between 1969 and 2001, breaking down to 1,840 civilians, 1,114 British security personnel, 397 republican paramilitaries, 170 loyalist paramilitaries, and 11 Irish security personnel. Other databases using different inclusion criteria and covering slightly different periods put the total as high as roughly 3,568 through 2010. The conflict included bombings, assassinations, and prolonged periods of army deployment on the streets of Northern Ireland, and it touched communities on both sides of the border and, at points, in Britain itself.
Why it matters
The Troubles killed more people, over three decades, than any other conflict in the British Isles since the Second World War, and the casualty breakdown shows a conflict that fell heavily on civilians as well as combatants on every side, which is part of why the eventual peace settlement required participation from paramilitary groups as well as governments.
How we know
Death tolls come from Ulster University's CAIN project, which maintains the Sutton Index of Deaths and related databases compiled from court records, press reporting, and other documentary sources, cross-checked against competing academic tallies such as the Cost of the Troubles Study.
Sources
- CAIN Archive, Ulster University. CAIN: Issues: Violence - Deaths during the Conflict · Reputable sourcecain.ulster.ac.uk · The domain "cain.ulster.ac.uk" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- CAIN Archive, Ulster University. Sutton Index of Deaths: Status Summary · Reputable sourcecain.ulster.ac.uk · The domain "cain.ulster.ac.uk" is on our Reputable source registry.
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