A newly released study indicates that economic sanctions imposed by the United States or the European Union have been linked to over 500,000 deaths annually.
The analysis, conducted by researchers at the University of Denver and the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., examined the impact of sanctions on mortality rates across 152 nations between 1971 and 2021. The findings suggest a significantly higher death toll attributed to sanctions than those directly resulting from armed conflict, which the study estimates at just over 100,000.
Researchers investigated the health consequences associated with sanctions, utilizing a dataset that incorporates age-specific mortality rates and sanction events. Their results reveal a “significant causal connection between sanctions and increased mortality, particularly concerning unilateral, economic and U.S.-imposed sanctions”. UN sanctions, however, did not demonstrate a statistically significant effect.
Published in the August issue of the medical journal “The Lancet”, the study highlights the substantial negative impact of sanctions on public health and calls for a reassessment of their implementation as a tool of foreign policy. The findings underscore the complex humanitarian considerations surrounding economic sanctions and their potential for widespread, indirect consequences.
