The UN Peacekeeping Mission completed 75 years of its existence in 2023. Data reveals that more than 70 peacekeeping missions were deployed by the UN during this period. More than 4.3 thousand personnel belonging to various countries lost their lives during these 75 years. India lost 179 of its personnel in these missions, the most for any nation. More than 30 countries are currently in conflict, with the type and severity of conflict varying widely. The duration that these countries are in conflict also varies, with each of them having a significant impact on the affected population, leading to a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations (UN) is at the forefront of maintaining peace in the world and plays an important role in conflict prevention, using diplomacy, mediation, and other actions to help nations prevent and resolve conflicts peacefully. Since its inception, the UN was involved in resolving conflict in many countries and actively engaged with these in maintaining peace. As such, the United Nations Peacekeeping by the UN’s Department of Peace Operations is an instrument developed by the UN to help countries torn by conflict to create conditions for lasting peace. A key role of Peacekeeping is to monitor and observe peace processes in post-conflict areas and assist the respective nations and authorities in implementing the peace agreements they might have signed. The assistance is in various forms – electoral assistance, strengthening the rule of law, economic & social development, power-sharing arrangements, etc. This is enabled through peacekeeping missions. The peacekeeping personnel as part of such missions include soldiers, police officers and civilian personnel. Because of the conditions in which the peacekeeping operations function, there is a higher exposure to various risks which could result in fatalities. What have been the trends in fatalities over the years of the various UN Peace Keeping Missions? Which regions are more prone to cause fatalities? Here is an analysis of the fatalities in UN Peace Keeping operations since its inception. The data for analysis is picked up from datasets as part of Dataful’s collection on UN Peacekeeping, which is collated from the data available on the UN Peacekeeping website. Increase in number of fatalities in the recent decades The first Peace Keeping Mission was in the year 1948, when the UN authorized a mission to monitor the agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours, officially known as United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). Since then, there have been more than 70 peacekeeping missions deployed by the UN. As per the latest data available as on 31 May 2023, there have been more than 4.3 thousand fatalities in UN peace Keeping missions since 1948. The trends have varied over the years, accentuated by individual years of higher number of fatalities. The first time that the number of fatalities was more than a hundred was in 1961, with 155 peacekeeping personnel killed in that year. This figure was overtaken in 1993 when there were 252 fatalities. This continues to be the year with the greatest number of fatalities. While the yearly fatalities have not been more than that in 1993, there is an increase in the frequency of the years with more than 100 fatalities in a year. Before 1990, the year 1961 was the only year with more than 100 fatalities. In the next decade (1990 to 2000), there were 3 such years. Between 2001 and 2010, there were 7 such years. In the next decade i.e., 2011 to 2020, the number of fatalities crossed 100 in every year except in 2018. Even in that year, the number of fatalities was 99. This trend continued even in the current decade. Peace Keeping Missions in Lebanon and Mali among the deadliest in history United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) established in 1978 accounts for the highest number of fatalities. The mission is an ongoing mission, and since its establishment has resulted in 330 fatalities. The mission was established to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and its mandate has been revised twice. The continued conflict in the area resulting in a civil war and other incidents has resulted in the mission being continued with a revised mandate. Here is a quick look at a few other missions with higher fatalities: Apart from these missions, two other missions UNPROFOR and UNMIL also have resulted in fatalities of more than 200 each. Nine other missions have more than 100 (and less than 200) fatalities each. The majority of the missions with the highest fatalities are in African countries followed by Middle East and East European nations, reflecting the conflict situations in these regions over the decades.