Comparison of Reported Deaths in SyriaTracker by Gender

Comparison of Reported Deaths in SyriaTracker by Gender

Data from Mar 11, 2011 through Sept 4, 2012

Syria Tracker is a crowdsourcing effort that has collected reported deaths of civilian and army defectors in Syria with the help of SyrianMartyrs شهداء الثورة السورية and Women Under Siege.  The data collected by Syria Tracker not only covers the dates and locations of each death, but also gender.  In this report, we are presenting an initial analysis of deaths by gender.  While the predominate number of casualties have been male, there has been a good deal of variation in female death rates based on the nature of the unrest and the amount of attacking civilian areas.  Note that the data for September 2012 only reflect the first four days of the month.

Month	Male Deaths	Female Deaths	% Female Deaths
Mar-11	120	1	0.83%
Apr-11	712	15	2.06%
May-11	523	39	6.94%
Jun-11	520	9	1.70%
Jul-11	427	16	3.61%
Aug-11	635	58	8.37%
Sep-11	496	25	4.80%
Oct-11	539	35	6.10%
Nov-11	777	33	4.07%
Dec-11	1060	59	5.27%
Jan-12	1124	65	5.47%
Feb-12	2349	241	9.31%
Mar-12	2179	189	7.98%
Apr-12	1838	152	7.64%
May-12	1289	154	10.67%
Jun-12	2427	266	9.88%
Jul-12	3980	402	9.17%
Aug-12	5810	634	9.84%
Sep-12	721	53	6.85%
Grand Total	27526	2446	8.16%

Monthly Breakdown of Deaths by Gender in Syria

March 18, 2011 through September 4, 2012 – Source: Syria Tracker

After a notable spike in August 2011, the relative amounts of female deaths have remained elevated since February 2012 (renewed attack on Homs), and have remained elevated despite the UN Ceasefire. Despite the increased action of the Free Syrian Army in recent months, it is somewhat surprising that female deaths are remaining at these levels.   Unfortunately this means that, despite the Syrian government’s claims that “terrorists” are being targeted, many civilians are still being killed.  A graphic breakdown of deaths by month and gender is shown below. 

 Stacked Representation of Monthly Deaths by Gender in Syria

March 18, 2011 through September 4, 2012 – Source: Syria Tracker

We have also analyzed the relative percentage of reported female deaths by governate (the 13 provinces of Syria, as well as the city of Damascus) for this time period, the results are shown below.  If we consider the provinces where there were more than 100 reported deaths and a rate of 7.5% or higher in female deaths, the Governates of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Dayr Az Zor have the highest reported rates. We have also included the female population from the 2004 Syrian Census (the latest available), and compared the number of reported deaths to the 2004 female population to get a feel for which areas would provide a high level of risk for female fatalities.  From this perspective Homs had by far the highest rate of female deaths, with Idleb, Dayr Az Zour, and Dara forming the next level of intensity.  From both perspectives, Homs ranks as a region where deaths of women are more likely, and this unfortunately corresponds to the data form Women Under Siege that shows higher degrees of sexual assaults in homes and assaults perpetrated by the Shabiha.

Governate	Male Deaths	Female Deaths	% Female Deaths	2004 Fem Pop	Deaths Per 100 K
Al_Qunaytirah/القنيطرة	51	3	5.56%	32588	9.206
Aleppo/حلب	2309	223	8.81%	1954486	11.410
As_Suweida/السويداء	13	0	0.00%	157436	0.000
City_Damascus/دمشق	1361	62	4.36%	755949	8.202
Damascus/ريف دمشق	4989	337	6.33%	1101328	30.599
Dara/درعا	2698	220	7.54%	412934	53.277
Dayr_Az_Zor/دير الزور	1650	217	11.62%	490822	44.212
Hama/حماة	2687	238	8.14%	673332	35.347
Hassakeh/الحسكة	94	0	0.00%	628150	0.000
Homs/حمص	6975	786	10.13%	742988	105.789
Idleb/إدلب	4037	319	7.32%	612491	52.082
Lattakia/اللاذقية	506	32	5.95%	431768	7.411
Raqqa/الرقة	86	2	2.27%	386380	0.518
Tartous/طرطوس	70	7	9.09%	343294	2.039
Grand Totals	27526	2446	8.16%	8723946	28.038

Breakdown of Deaths by Governate and Gender in Syria

March 18, 2011 through September 4, 2012 – Source: Syria Tracker

A graphic representation of the reported female deaths per each 100,000 of the female population as indicated in the 2004 census is illustrated below. 

Geospatial Graph of Reported Female Deaths in Syria Per 100K of 2004 Female Population

March 18, 2011 through September 4, 2012 – Source: Syria Tracker