Vietnam War casualties The Vietnam War began in 1955 and ended in 1975 when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon . During this period , the war escalated from an insurgency in South Vietnam sponsored by the North Vietnam ese government to direct military intervention in the south by North Vietnam , as well as the active participation of military forces of the United States and other countries . The war also spilled over into the neighbouring countries of Cambodia and Laos . An exhaustive reckoning of the total casualties must include statistical information available for each theater of the war . The Republic of Vietnam was where most of the fighting took place , and it accordingly suffered most from the war . Deaths in the Vietnam War . Civilian deaths in Vietnam war . 195 , 000 - 430 , 000 South Vietnamese civilians died in the war . 50 , 000 - 65 , 000 North Vietnamese civilians died in the war . It was difficult to distinguish between civilians and military personnel on the Viet Cong side since many dressed as civilians . Deaths caused by North Vietnam / VC forces . R . J . Rummel estimated that NVA / VC forces killed around 164 , 000 civilians in democide between 1954 and 1975 in South Vietnam , from a range of between 106 , 000 and 227 , 000 . Rummel ' s summary has a mid - level estimate of 17 , 000 South Vietnamese civil servants ( ARVN ' s local millitia ) killed by North Vietnamese forces ( including the Viet Cong ) . In addition , at least 36 , 000 Southern civilians were executed for various reasons in the period 1967 – 1972 . About 130 American and 16 , 000 South Vietnamese POWs died in captivity . During the peak war years , almost a third of civilian deaths were the result of Viet Cong atrocities . Deaths caused by South Vietnam . From 1964 to 1975 , an estimated 1 , 500 persons died during the forced relocations of 1 , 200 , 000 civilians , another 5 , 000 prisoners died from ill - treatment and about 30 , 000 suspected communists and fighters were executed . 6 , 000 civilians died in the more extensive shellings . In Quang Nam province 4 , 700 civilians were killed in 1969 . This totals 50 , 000 deaths caused by South Vietnam , excluding North Vietnamese forces killed by the ARVN in combat . Deaths caused by the American military . Rummel estimated that American forces committed around 5 , 500 democidal killings between 1960 and 1972 , from a range of between 4 , 000 and 10 , 000 . The Phoenix Program , a counterinsurgency program executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) , United States special operations forces , and the Republic of Vietnam ' s security apparatus , killed 26 , 369 suspected NLF operatives and informants . Estimates for the number of North Vietnamese civilian deaths resulting from US bombing range from 50 , 000 - 65 , 000 . American bombing in Cambodia killed at least 40 , 000 combatants and civilians . 18 . 2 million gallons of Agent Orange ( Dioxin ) was sprayed by the U . S . military over more than 10 % of Southern Vietnam , as part of the U . S . herbicidal warfare program , Operation Ranch Hand , during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971 . Vietnam ' s government claimed that 400 , 000 people were killed or maimed as a result of after effects , and that 500 , 000 children were born with birth defects . German historian Bernd Greiner mentions the following war crimes reported , and / or investigated by the Peers Commission and the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group , among other sources : - Seven massacres officially confirmed by the American side . My Lai ( 4 ) and My Khe ( 4 ) claimed the largest number of victims with 420 and 90 respectively , and in five other places altogether about 100 civilians were executed . - Two further massacres were reported by soldiers who had taken part in them , one north of Duc Pho in Quang Ngai Province in the summer of 1968 ( 14 victims ) , another in Binh Dinh province on 20 July 1969 ( 25 victims ) . - Tiger Force , a special operations force , murdered hundreds , possibly over a thousand , civilians . - In the course of large - scale operations an unknown number of non - combatants were killed either accidentally or deliberately – with some estimating more than 5 , 000 allegedly died in the course of Operation Speedy Express . Excluding deaths from artillery and air attacks , the total number of victims may have reached tens of thousands during the entire war . - According to the ' Information Bureau of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam ' ( PRG ) , between April 1968 and the end of 1970 American ground troops killed about 6 , 500 civilians in the course of twenty - one operations either on their own or alongside their allies . Three of the massacres reported on the American side were not mentioned on the PRG list . Deaths caused by the South Korean military . ROK Capital Division massacred Tay Vinh citizens between February and March 1966 . ROK Capital Division massacred Binh An citizens on 26 February 1966 . In October , 1966 , Tinh Son citizens were massacred . 2nd Marine Brigade massacred Binh Tai citizens on 9 October 1966 . In December , 1966 , Blue Dragon Brigade massacred Binh Hoa citizens . Second Marine Brigade massacred Phong Nhi citizens on 12 February 1968 . South Korean Marines massacred Ha My citizens on 25 February 1968 . Army of the Republic of Vietnam . The Army of the Republic of Vietnam lost between 171 , 331 and 220 , 357 men during the war . R . J . Rummel estimated that ARVN lost between 219 , 000 and 313 , 000 men during the war . North Vietnamese and Viet Cong Military deaths . According to the Vietnamese government , there were 1 , 100 , 000 North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong military personnel deaths during the Vietnam War ( including the missing ) . Rummel reviewed the many casualty data sets , and this number is in keeping with his mid - level estimate of 1 , 011 , 000 North Vietnamese combatant deaths . The official US Department of Defense figure was 950 , 765 communist forces killed in Vietnam from 1965 to 1974 . Defense Department officials believed that these body count figures need to be deflated by 30 percent . In addition , Guenter Lewy assumes that one - third of the reported " enemy " killed may have been civilians , concluding that the actual number of deaths of communist military forces was probably closer to 444 , 000 . United States armed forces . Casualties as of 2 June 2013 : During the Vietnam War , 30 % of wounded service members died of their wounds . Deaths after U . S . withdrawal . Up to 155 , 000 refugees fleeing the final NVA Spring Offensive were killed or abducted on the road to Tuy Hoa in 1975 . Sources have estimated that 165 , 000 South Vietnamese died in the re - education camps out of 1 - 2 . 5 million sent , while somewhere between 50 , 000 and 250 , 000 were executed . Rummel estimates that slave labor in the " New Economic Zones " caused 50 , 000 deaths ( out of a total 1 million deported ) . The number of Vietnamese boat people who died is estimated between 200 , 000 and 400 , 000 , out of the 2 . 5 million that fled . There were also tens of thousands of suicides after the North Vietnamese take - over . Including Vietnam ' s foreign democide , Rummel estimates that a minimum of 400 , 000 and a maximum of slightly less than 2 . 5 million people died of political violence from 1975 - 87 at the hands of Hanoi . In 1988 , Vietnam suffered a famine that afflicted millions . Under the leadership of Pol Pot , the Khmer Rouge killed 1 - 3 million Cambodians in the killing fields , out of a population of around 8 million . The Pathet Lao killed some 100 , 000 Hmong people in Laos . Other nations ' casualties . Cambodian Civil War Laotian Civil War Military . South Korea Australia Thailand New Zealand Philippines China Soviet Union