Key Elements

The Cost of Violence

The cost of violence can be viewed in a variety of ways, including in terms emotional, mental, economic, environmental, and quality of life frameworks. Because the PAR Model is an evidence-based approach to violence, evaluating the cost of violence emphasizes information that can be quantified. Because some costs are difficult to render in absolute terms, one should be cautious not to discount or dismiss them. For example, the emotional impact of violence takes a terrible toll, but the direct effects on the emotions of a population are difficult to measure.

The World Health Organization reports that interpersonal violence disproportionately impacts low- and middle-income countries.1 The economic effects are also likely to be more devastating in poorer countries. However, the absence of economic data related to violence in low- and middle-income countries makes accurate assessment difficult. Comparisons with high-income countries are complicated by the fact that economic losses related to productivity tend to be undervalued in low-income countries since these losses are typically based on lower wages and income. For example, a single homicide is calculated to cost, on average, $15,319 in South Africa, $602,000 in Australia, and $2,600,000 million in the United States.

Oxfam International reported that the cost of conflict on African development was $284 billion between 1990 and 2005.2 The research calculates the overall effects of conflict on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for African nations. It shows that, on average, a war, civil war, or insurgency reduces an African economy by 15%. The continent loses an average of $18 billion per year – money that could be used to meet the challenging health, education, and economic needs of the population.

The impact is also felt in In wealthy western countries. For example, the US government outlays for international violence for fiscal year 2008 are shown below.

Cost to the United States
for Domestic and International Violence
Fiscal Year 2008

Violence is less visible at an interpersonal level. Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former President of South Africa, comments that the legacy of day-to-day individual suffering includes “. . . the pain of children who are abused by people who should protect them, women injured or humiliated by violent partners, elderly persons maltreated by their caregivers, youths who are bullied by other youths, and people of all ages who inflict violence on themselves. This suffering – and there are many more examples that I could give – is a legacy that reproduces itself, as new generations learn from the violence of generations past, as victims learn from victimizers, and as the social conditions that nurture violence are allowed to continue. No country, no city, no community is immune. But neither are we powerless against it.”9

Notes:

1. (2004): The Economic Dimensions of Interpersonal Violence. World Health Organization, page x.
2. (2007) Africa’s Missing Billions: International arms flows and the cost of conflict. The Hague, The Netherlands: Oxfam International. The research was conducted by Oxfam International, IANSA, and Saferworld. Oxfam International is a confederation of 13 organization focused on solutions to poverty and injustice.
3. (2007): "Department of Defense," The Budget for Fiscal Year 2008. Washington, DC: Office of Management and Budget, 05 February, page 43. Note that the budget includes the “War on Terror” which is carved out and treated as a “supplemental” expenditure. These figures do not include expenditures for international violence which would fall under agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Those figures are included in the cost of domestic violent crime.
4. (2007): "Department of Defense," The Budget for Fiscal Year 2008. Washington, DC: Office of Management and Budget, 05 February, page 120. Includes both discretionary and mandatory outlays. Costs for veteran’s home loans and other credit activity are not included.
5. (2007): "Department of Defense," The Budget for Fiscal Year 2008. Washington, DC: Office of Management and Budget, 05 February, page 80. Figures for the US Secret Service, US Coast Guard, FEMA, and other budget areas not directly connected to international threats are not included.
6. (2007): "Department of Defense," The Budget for Fiscal Year 2008. Washington, DC: Office of Management and Budget, 05 February, page 63. For biodefense research at the National Institutes of Health.
7. (2004): The Economic Dimensions of Interpersonal Violence. Geneva: World Health Organization, page 14. Based on estimates by Miller, Cohen & Wiersema (1996) of a total annual cost to victims of personal crime in the USA, including domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, and child abuse. Given that these estimates are more than a decade old, they are most likely conservative. Self-directed violence, war, state-sponsored violence and other collective violence are specifically excluded from these figures.
8. Based upon US population estimate of 300,000,000. “Per person” means every living human being — adult and child — in the United States.
9. Krug, Etienne G., Linda L. Dahlberg, James A. Mercy, Anthony B. Zwi and Rafael Lozano (editors) (2002): World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva: World Health Organization, Foreword.