Too true – only a few people have Big Numbers expertise in this area, but they have documented their techniques exceptionally well. The question “how many died?” is the first thing anyone with any curiousity asks, but what is the actual value of knowing a Big Number? They’re meaningless to regular joes, and unless care is taken to accurately source the data, weed out duplicates and correct known biases, the number is almost certainly wrong.

For a masterclass in how to go about a definitive body count, check out How many Peruvians have died? An estimate of the total number of victims killed or disappeared in the armed internal conflict between 1980 and 2000″ by Prof David Sulmont et al.