The Troubles: number of killings 1969-2001, by year and organization

During the Troubles, the 1970s were, by far, the deadliest years of the conflict. Over 2,000 of the more than 3,500 people killed during the Troubles died in the 1970s, with 480 deaths (over 13 percent of the total) coming in 1972 alone. The heavy casualties and violence of the Troubles' early years saw both sides lose some support within their respective communities by the late 1970s, at which point there was something of a de-escalation of attacks, although death tolls were steady at around 100 deaths per year until the IRA ceasefire in 1994. Roughly double the number of deaths have been attributed to republican paramilitaries in comparison to loyalist paramilitaries, although there were some periods in the 1970s and 1990s where both sides had comparable figures. The spike in killings in 1998, the year of the Good Friday Agreement, was due to the Omagh bombing, which resulted in the deaths of 29 people.