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Casualty (person)
 
 
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A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident, injury, or trauma
Physical trauma

Physical trauma refers to a body injury. A trauma patient is someone who has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury with the potential for secondary complications such as Shock , respiratory failure and death....
. The word casualties is most often used by the news media to describe deaths and injuries resulting from war
War

...
s or disaster
Disaster

File:Post-and-Grant-Avenue.-Look.jpgA disaster is the tragedy of a natural hazard or man-made hazard that negatively affects society or environment ....
s. Casualties is sometimes misunderstood to mean fatalities, but non-fatal injuries are also casualties.

In military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 usage, casualties usually means all persons lost to active military service, which comprises those killed in action
Killed in action

Killed in action is a Casualty classification generally used by Military to describe the deaths of their own forces by other hostile forces....
, killed by disease
Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
, disabled by physical injuries, disabled by psychological trauma
Psychological trauma

Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event. When that trauma leads to posttraumatic stress disorder, damage may involve physical changes inside the brain and to brain chemistry, which affect the person's ability to cope with Stress ....
, captured
Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict....
, deserted
Desertion

In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission from one's Government or superior. Ultimate "duty" or "responsibility," however, under International Law, is not necessarily always to a "Government" nor to a "superior," as seen in the fourth of the Nuremberg Principles, which states:...
, and missing
Missing in action

Missing in action is a status assigned to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed in action or Wounded in action in action, or become a prisoner of war, or may have Desertion....
, but does not include injuries which do not prevent a person from fighting.

Civilian casualties
Civilian casualties

Civilian casualties is a military term describing civilian or non-combatant persons killed, injured, or imprisoned by military action. The description of civilian casualties includes any form of military action regardless of whether civilians were targeted directly....
 is a military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 term describing civilian
Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agency, which often use rank structures similar to those of military units...
 or non-combatant
Non-combatant

Non-combatant is a military and legal term describing civilians not engaged in combat. It also includes persons, such as combat medic and chaplains and soldiers who are hors de combat....
 persons killed or injured by military action.






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A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident, injury, or trauma
Physical trauma

Physical trauma refers to a body injury. A trauma patient is someone who has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury with the potential for secondary complications such as Shock , respiratory failure and death....
. The word casualties is most often used by the news media to describe deaths and injuries resulting from war
War

...
s or disaster
Disaster

File:Post-and-Grant-Avenue.-Look.jpgA disaster is the tragedy of a natural hazard or man-made hazard that negatively affects society or environment ....
s. Casualties is sometimes misunderstood to mean fatalities, but non-fatal injuries are also casualties.

In military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 usage, casualties usually means all persons lost to active military service, which comprises those killed in action
Killed in action

Killed in action is a Casualty classification generally used by Military to describe the deaths of their own forces by other hostile forces....
, killed by disease
Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
, disabled by physical injuries, disabled by psychological trauma
Psychological trauma

Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event. When that trauma leads to posttraumatic stress disorder, damage may involve physical changes inside the brain and to brain chemistry, which affect the person's ability to cope with Stress ....
, captured
Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict....
, deserted
Desertion

In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission from one's Government or superior. Ultimate "duty" or "responsibility," however, under International Law, is not necessarily always to a "Government" nor to a "superior," as seen in the fourth of the Nuremberg Principles, which states:...
, and missing
Missing in action

Missing in action is a status assigned to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed in action or Wounded in action in action, or become a prisoner of war, or may have Desertion....
, but does not include injuries which do not prevent a person from fighting.

Civilian casualties
Civilian casualties

Civilian casualties is a military term describing civilian or non-combatant persons killed, injured, or imprisoned by military action. The description of civilian casualties includes any form of military action regardless of whether civilians were targeted directly....
 is a military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 term describing civilian
Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agency, which often use rank structures similar to those of military units...
 or non-combatant
Non-combatant

Non-combatant is a military and legal term describing civilians not engaged in combat. It also includes persons, such as combat medic and chaplains and soldiers who are hors de combat....
 persons killed or injured by military action. The sum of casualties, whether military personnel or civilians, is known as the casualty count. Civilian prisoners of war are also casualties of war, but are counted separately from those injured or killed.

In combat before World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, deaths by disease usually outnumbered deaths in combat.

In the past, 20-30% of those wounded in combat died, about 1 in 4. Due to modern medicine and armor, the ratio has decreased to around 1 in 9.

Further reading

  • America's Wars: U.S. Casualties and Veterans . Infoplease.
  • Online text : War Casualties (1931), by Albert G. Love, Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps
    Medical Corps

    Medical Corps may refer to any of the following organizations:In the British Armed Forces and Commonwealth of Nations:* Royal Army Medical Corps, a specialist corps of the Army Medical Services that provides medical care to British Army personnel...
    , U.S.A.. Medical Field Service School, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The Army Medical Bulletin Number 24.
  • Selected Death Tolls for Wars, Massacres and Atrocities Before the 20th Century .
  • Statistical Summary: America's Major Wars . U.S. Civil War Center.
  • The world's worst massacres . By Greg Brecht. Fall, 1987. Whole Earth Review
    Whole Earth Review

    Whole Earth was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of The Whole Earth Software Catalog and Review and the CoEvolution Quarterly....
    .
  • Twentieth Century Atlas - Death Tolls .