New study: Western sanctions killed more than wars in past 50 years

A groundbreaking study published in The Lancet Global Health has revealed that unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union since 1970 are associated with 38 million deaths worldwide — the vast majority in countries of the Global South.

Led by economist Francisco Rodriguez at the University of Denver, the study provides the first global assessment of the human cost of sanctions. According to the findings, “in their central estimate, the authors find that unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and EU since 1970 are associated with 38 million deaths.” In 2021 alone, more than 800,000 deaths were linked to these economic measures, Al Jazeera reports.

Unilateral sanctions — often framed as non-violent diplomatic tools — have historically targeted countries attempting to pursue sovereign development and resist Western domination. “During the 1970s, there were, on average, about 15 countries under Western unilateral sanctions in any given year,” while the number has now risen to over 60 in the 2020s.

One of the most striking cases is Chile under socialist leader Salvador Allende, where the US orchestrated economic strangulation to bring about regime change. A September 1970 White House meeting records US President Richard Nixon directing officials to “make [Chile’s] economy scream.” Historian Peter Kornbluh described it as an “invisible blockade” that destabilized Chile’s economy and led to a US-backed coup.

Similarly, sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s caused mass malnutrition and shortages of medicine, while US economic pressure on Venezuela has contributed to severe humanitarian crises. A 2017–2018 study estimated “40,000 excess deaths” in Venezuela within a single year due to sanctions.

The study notes that more than half of the victims of sanctions are children and the elderly, with over one million children killed since 2012. “Hunger and deprivation are not an accidental by-product of Western sanctions; they are a key objective,” the report asserts, citing a 1960 US State Department memo on Cuba that advocated for economic warfare to provoke “hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”

The report concludes that if Global South countries aim to pursue independent development, they must reduce reliance on Western financial systems, technologies, and currencies. China’s growing ecosystem — including the CIPS payment network, BeiDou satellite system, and Huawei telecom infrastructure — offers potential alternatives.

“These steps are necessary for countries that wish to achieve sovereign development, but they are also a moral imperative. We cannot accept a world where half a million people are killed each year to prop up Western hegemony.”

By Vafa Guliyeva