A Johns Hopkins study published in UK Journal The Lancet estimates that 655,000 more Iraqis have died as a result of war and political violence since March, 2003 than would have died if mortality rates had remained the same as during 2002. The number was calculated using a random sampling of households throughout Iraq in a similar fashion to what is done after natural disasters. While the number of additional deaths in the first year after the war was likely over 100,000 a significant finding of the study was that the death rate in the past year is more than twice what it was in the first year of occupation and over half the total additional deaths are from this past year alone.

Links to copies of the study in PDF format: 1 | 2

The study found that between January 2002 and March 2003 (before the US invasion), the mortality rate in Iraq was 5.5 per thousand per year (with a 95% probablity that the true number was between 4.3 and 7.1) from all causes, with almost none of this reported as being due to violence.

Between March 2003 and April 2004, the mortality rate was 7.5 deaths per thousand people per year (with a 95% probablity that the true number was between 5.8 and 9.7), with approximately 4.5 deaths per thousand per year resulting from violence.

Between March 2004 and April 2005, the mortality rate was 10.9 deaths per thousand per year (with a 95% probablity that the true number was between 8.1 and 14.0), with approximately 6.6 deaths per thousand per year resulting from violence.

Between March 2005 and April 2006, the mortality rate was 19.8 deaths per thousand per year (with a 95% probablity that the true number was between 14.6 and 26.7), with approximately 12.0 deaths per thousand per year resulting from violence.

For the total post war period this comes out to 13.2 deaths per thousand Iraqis per year with approximately 7.2 deaths per thousand per year comming from violence. Applying this to the Iraqi population one comes up with an estimated 655,000 (with a 95% probablity that the true number was between 420,000 and 790,000 ) Iraqis who have died as a result of violence after the US invasion compared to prewar values.

While the estimated mortality in the post war years from violence was 12 per thousand, this number wasn't constant across the whole of Iraq. The areas which have averaged greater than 10 deaths per thousand per year by violence in the post-war years were only the Sunni governorates, with estimated death rates by violence below 2 per thousand per year in some Shia and Kurdish governorates. Across all of Iraq, 56% of the violent deaths were due to gunshots, 13% car bombs, 14% other explosives and 13% airstrikes.

Iraq the country of death and terror | The numbers do add up | Why is the New York Times silent on massive Iraq death toll? | Can We Call It Genocide Now? | 655,000: The toll of war in Iraq | Democracy Now: Co-Author of Medical Study Estimating 650,000 Iraqi Deaths Defends Research | WSWS: New study says US war has killed 655,000 Iraqis | Bush denies Iraq's Death Toll Has Reached 655,000 | Juan Cole: 655,000 Dead in Iraq since Bush Invasion

100 Tortured Each Day in Iraq Situation Worse than Under Saddam | Police find 60 bodies in Baghdad | Palestinian Refugees Targeted With Death Threats in Iraq | Iraq Sunni leader's brother shot | Iraq's Education System Collapses | 62 Dead, Dozens Wounded as Rice Visits | 113 Bodies Found | Sadrists Accuse Sunni Politicians of Ties to Terror, 86 Dead in Political Violence | As Kurd and Arab clashes surge, a third war is looming in Iraq | Over 800 attacks every week in Iraq | Iraq 'failing to tackle death squads' | Torture and civilian deaths reach record levels in Iraq | Iraq torture 'worse after Saddam' | Civilian Torture, Killing Surge in Iraq: UN