The World Problems Index

Conflict

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South AsiaConflictSince 1947Curatedmedium confidence

Kashmir Dispute

A militarised territorial dispute between two nuclear-armed states.

Severity score

34.9

Limited · default weighting

Trajectory

Steady

What this is

Kashmir remains one of the most heavily militarised regions on earth, with periodic cross-border exchanges, internet shutdowns and detentions. Escalation between India and Pakistan carries nuclear risk out of proportion to the territory involved.

Score breakdown

Loss of life

40

Direct and attributable mortality, normalised across annual and cumulative tolls.

Lives negatively impacted

50

People displaced, injured, food-insecure, exposed or otherwise materially harmed.

Financial cost

26

Direct damage, lost output and health-system spend attributable to the event.

Environmental impact

8

Emissions, habitat and biodiversity loss, contamination and irreversibility.

Trajectory

40

Whether the situation is escalating, and how much worse it is plausibly getting.