There were more wars around the world in 2011 than in any year since 1945, the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIK) found in its annual "conflict barometer."

In the report released on Thursday, researchers classified 38 of 388 conflicts around the world as "highly violent," while defining 20 of them as wars. In its 2010 report the HIIK registered 28 serious conflicts and six wars.

"A tendency towards a more peaceful world can hardly be identified, given the explosion in the number of conflicts compared to the previous year," Natalie Hoffmann from the HIIK said.

Among others, the HIIK determined that the conflicts in Yemen, Libya and Syria escalated to war status in 2011. The organization also classifies the fighting between Taliban groups and the national governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan as wars, as well as the insurgency in Iraq. Owing to the high number of casualties, the researchers said they considered the pitched battles between law enforcement agencies and drug cartels in Mexico as a war.

Most of the registered conflicts took place within a single country, with the Middle East and Africa singled out as hotspots. HIIK researcher Natalie Hoffmann also warned that the high number of elections scheduled across Africa in 2012 meant there was a "high potential for further escalation" in the region.

Closer to Europe, fighting between Turkish authorities and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was classified as war, while clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan marked the only registered bilateral conflict on the continent.

The HIIK has compiled its "conflict barometer" every year since 1991, seeking to provide an overview of violence around the globe.

msh/acb (AFP, dpa, epd, KNA)