Key findings of this report include: (1) more than 740,000 people have died directly or indirectly from armed violence, both conflict and criminal violence, every year in recent years; (2) more than 540,000 of these deaths are violent, with the majority occurring in non-conflict settings; (3) at least 200,000 people have died each year in conflict zones from nonviolent causes, such as malnutrition and dysentery that resulted from the effects of war on populations; (4) between 2004 and 2007, at least 208,300 violent deaths were recorded in armed conflicts; a conservative estimate; and (5) the annual economic cost of armed violence in non-conflict settings, in terms of lost productivity due to violent deaths, is USD 95 billion and could reach as high as 163 billion, 0.14 percent of the annual global domestic product (GDP). For this report, armed violence as defined in this report is the intentional use of illegitimate force with arms or explosives, against a person, group, community, or state that undermines people-centered security and/or sustainable development. Armed violence imposes a tremendous human and economic burden on individuals, families, and communities. The promotion of effective and practical measures to reduce armed violence depends on the development of reliable information and analysis of its causes and consequences. This report, conceived and researched by the Secretariat of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, draws on a wide variety of sources and datasets to provide a comprehensive assessment of the scope of human tragedy resulting from armed violence around the world, offering an overview of the incidence, severity, and distribution of different types of armed violence. Boxes, maps, figures, tables and references