Houses destroyed

How the best figure is chosen

Several sources often report different figures for the same event, and a source may update its own figure over days. Each source's figure is kept as a separate claim. The best figure shown on an event is worked out from those claims every time the event is opened, by a written rule.

For this metric the figures are added up. From each source, only its newest figure for each place or asset counts, so a source that first reports 10 and later 14 counts as 14, not 24. Figures from different sources, or about different places, are added together. If two sources report the same people, both are still counted; moderators retract one of them.

• Retracted figures never count. A corrected figure replaces the one it corrects.
• “Newest” is judged by when the source made its claim. A claim known only to the month is treated as made on the first day of that month.
• When figures tie, sources are preferred in this order: government, research, satellite imagery, datasets, organisations, news media, community reports. The order only breaks ties; it never overrides a newer or larger figure.
• The best figure's confidence is the lowest confidence among the figures it is made from: a total is only as reliable as its weakest part.

These rules are the project's proposed policy and may change after review.