A majority of people questioned in a recent ICRC-commissioned survey feel that rules of war developed in the second half of the 20th century still make an important difference in protecting lives during conflict. According to a survey of 17,000 people in 16 countries conducted by WIN/Gallup International, some 80 per cent of people in countries at war believe that civilian deaths are unacceptable and not simply an inevitable part of war. However, the survey also found some troubling trends: an increasing number of people (and the average number in all surveyed countries) feel that civilian deaths in conflict zones are an inevitable part of war (from 30 per cent in 1999 to 34 per cent in 2016). See our Resources section, page 29, for more about the People and War survey.