The death toll is not down - it is ever increasing

I know that some people say that they were never good at math, but help me understand the math in this (and many other) articles.

Throughout this "war on terrah" we have been fed statistics on the death toll of the civilians in the region as well as of the soldiers from this country and other countries that have sent troops to "help out".

This morning I was driving in the car listening to NPR (I am often a nerd -- plus, without a CD player NPR is WAY better than almost every song on the radio). I heard this story read during the news update:

U.S. Troop Deaths Up In June, Civilian Deaths Drop

The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq rose in June, but the civilian death toll fell slightly, reports showed.
The statistics come at a time when the U.S. military is close to completing a drawdown of more than 20,000 combat troops sent to Iraq in early 2007 to control sectarian violence.
U.S. troop deaths in Iraq rose to 29 in June from 19 in May, according to the independent Web site icasualties.org, which tracks American casualty figures. The May number was the lowest since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In June 2007, 101 U.S. troops were killed.
Iraq's Health Ministry released statistics showing that 448 civilians were killed in violence in June, down from 505 the month before.
That's despite several deadly attacks, including a truck bomb that killed 63 people in Baghdad on June 17. Several recent high-profile attacks have targeted local council meetings where Americans were present.
Despite the overall drop in violence, U.S. officials warn that the country is still vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Civilian Deaths Drop.

Civilian death toll fell slightly.

The title and the information on the civilian deaths is what gets me. How can civilian deaths truly be down if more people are constantly and consistently dying? Yes, there were less civilians killed in June than in May, but there were still deaths.

And 440+ killed is not an improvement. That's more people than in the whole school where I used to teach (including teachers and faculty).

Until the killing stops and there are more people being born in the region than dying (of, hopefully one day, natural or typical causes instead of mortars and bullets and bombs) there is no improvement in the conditions over there.