About 3.3 million people have been killed in the last several years as a direct or indirect result of the war in DR Congo, and with an average remaining life expectancy of roughly 30 years, that's about 100 million life-years. In addition, about 20 million people in eastern DR Congo have been affected to an extent equivalent to, let's say, 2 years of their lives, or around 40 million life-years.

Human News aims to devote 1 character to each 40,000 life-years, or 1000 average lives. Thus, this story has about (140 million) / 40,000 = 3500 characters.