More than 1.6 million people worldwide lost their lives to violence in 2000, says the first comprehensive review of the global impact of violence, published by the World Health Organization this week.

The report was developed to raise awareness of the impact of violence and to encourage a much wider role for public health in the response to violence. The report analysed data on morbidity and mortality associated with violence submitted by different countries to the WHO but acknowledges that the data represent only the tip of the iceberg. Data were also gathered from an extensive literature review of the impact of violence on health. The report took more than three years to develop, and 160 experts from around the world participated.

The report analyses violence in categories according to the person who committed the act, who the victims were, and what kind of violence they were subjected to. Around half the deaths in 2000 that were due to violence were suicides (815000 deaths), nearly a third were homicides (520000), and about a …