A majority of the deaths in World War II were civilians rather than combatants.
Notes on verification
Multiple independent, high-quality sources (Wikipedia, World Population Review, Britannica, Princeton University Press) converge on civilian deaths comprising roughly 60-70% of total WWII fatalities, despite some variance in exact figures due to estimation difficulties.
Sources
- World War II (en.wikipedia.org)
- https://press.princeton.edu/node/59507 (press.princeton.edu)
- https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/world-war-two-casualties-by-country (worldpopulationreview.com)