Global Peace Index

Global Peace Index 2023. Countries appearing with a deeper shade of green are ranked as more peaceful, countries appearing more red are ranked as more violent.

Global Peace Index(GPI) is a report produced by theInstitute for Economics & Peace(IEP) which measures the relative position of nations' and regions'peacefulness.The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories (collectively accounting for 99.7 per cent of the world's population) according to their levels of peacefulness. In the past decade, theGPIhas presented trends of increased global violence and less peacefulness.

The GPI is developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes andthink tankswith data collected by theEconomist Intelligence Unit.The Index was first launched in May 2009, with subsequent reports being released annually. In 2015 it ranked 165 countries, up from 121 in 2007. The study was conceived by Australian technology entrepreneurSteve Killelea,and is endorsed by individuals such as former UN Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan,the Dalai Lama,archbishopDesmond Tutu,former President ofFinlandand 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureateMartti Ahtisaari,Nobel laureateMuhammad Yunus,economistJeffrey Sachs,formerpresident of IrelandMary Robinson,former Deputy Secretary-General of the United NationsJan Eliassonand former United States presidentJimmy Carter.The updated index is released each year at events inLondon,Washington, D.C.,and at theUnited NationsSecretariat inNew York City.

The 2024 GPI indicatesIceland,Ireland,Austria,New Zealand,Singapore,Switzerland,Portugal,Denmark,SloveniaandMalaysiato be the most peaceful countries, whileYemen,Sudan,South Sudan,Palestine,MyanmarandAfghanistanto be the least peaceful.The key findings of the 2024 GPI include a less peaceful world over the last 16 years, a 6 per cent deterioration in the global level of peace over the last 16 years and a growing inequality in peace between the most and least peaceful countries.

Involved in ongoing domestic and international conflicts and seeks to evaluate the level of harmony or discord within a nation. Ten indicators broadly assess what might be described as safety and security in society. Their assertion is that low crime rates, minimal incidences of terrorist acts and violent demonstrations, harmonious relations with neighbouring countries, a stable political scene, and a small proportion of the population being internally displaced or refugees can be suggestive of peacefulness.

In 2017, 23 indicators were used to establish peacefulness scores for each country. The indicators were originally selected with the assistance of an expert panel in 2007 and are reviewed by the expert panel on an annual basis. The scores for each indicator are normalised on a scale of 1–5, whereby qualitative indicators are banded into five groupings, and quantitative ones are scored from 1–5, to the third decimal point. A table of the indicators is below.In the table, UCDP stands for theUppsala Conflict Data Programmaintained by theUniversity of UppsalainSweden,EIU for The Economist Intelligence Unit, UNSCT for theUnited NationsSurvey of Criminal Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, ICPS is theInternational Centre for Prison StudiesatKing's College London,IISS for theInternational Institute for Strategic StudiespublicationThe Military Balance,and SIPRI for theStockholm International Peace Research InstituteArms Transfers Database.

	Indicator	Source	Coding
1	Number and duration of internal conflicts	UCDP, IEP	Total number
2	Number of deaths from external organized conflict	UCDP Armed Conflict Dataset	Total number
3	Number of deaths from internal organized conflict	International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database	Total number
4	Number, duration, and role in external conflicts	UCDP Battle-related Deaths Dataset, IEP	Total number
5	Intensity of organized internal conflict	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
6	Relations with neighbouring countries	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
7	Level of perceived criminality in society	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
8	Number of refugees and displaced persons as percentage of population	UNHCR and IDMC	Refugee population by country or territory of origin, plus the number of a country's internally displaced people (IDP's) as a percentage of the country's total population
9	Political instability	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
10	Impact of terrorism	Global Terrorism Index (IEP)	Quantitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
11	Political terror	Amnesty International and US State Department	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
12	Number of homicides per 100,000 people	UNODC Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (CTS); EIU estimates	Total number
13	Level of violent crime	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
14	Likelihood of violent demonstrations	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
15	Number of jailed persons per 100,000 people	World Prison Brief, Institute for Criminal Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London	Total number
16	Number of internal security officers and police per 100,000 people	UNODC CTS; EIU estimates	Total number; Civil police force distinct from national guards or local militia
17	Military expenditure as a percentage of GDP	The Military Balance and IISS	Cash outlays of central or federal government to meet costs of national armed forces, as a percentage of GDP, scores from 1 to 5 based on percentages
18	Number of armed-services personnel per 100,000	The Military Balance and IISS	All full-time active armed-services personnel
19	Volume of transfers of major conventional weapons as recipient (imports) per 100,000 people	SIPRI Arms Transfers Database	Imports of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
20	Volume of transfers of major conventional weapons as supplier (exports) per 100,000 people	SIPRI Arms Transfers Database	Exports of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
21	Financial contribution to UN peacekeeping missions	United Nations Committee on Contributions and IEP	Percentage of countries' "outstanding payments versus their annual assessment to the budget of the current peacekeeping missions" over an average of three years, scored from 1–5 scale based on percentage of promised contributions met
22	Nuclear and heavy weapons capability	The Military Balance, IISS, SIPRI, UN Register of Conventional Arms and IEP	1–5 scale based on accumulated points; 1 point per armoured vehicle and artillery pieces, 5 points per tank, 20 points per combat aircraft, 100 points per warship, 1000 points for aircraft carrier and nuclear submarine
23	Ease of access to small arms and light weapons	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5

Indicators not already ranked on a 1 to 5 scale were converted by using the following formula:x = [x - min(x)] / [max(x) - min(x)],where max(x) and min(x) are the highest and lowest values for that indicator of the countries ranked in the index. The 0 to 1 scores that resulted were then converted to the 1 to 5 scale. Individual indicators were then weighted according to the expert panel's judgment of their importance. The scores were then tabulated into two weighted sub-indices: internal peace, weighted at 60% of a country's final score, and external peace, weighted at 40% of a country's final score. "Negative Peace", defined as the absence of violence or of the fear of violence, is used as the definition of peace to create the Global Peace Index. An additional aim of the GPI database is to facilitate deeper study of the concept of positive peace, or those attitudes, institutions, and structures that drive peacefulness in society. The GPI also examines relationships between peace and reliable international measures, including democracy and transparency, education and material well-being. As such, it seeks to understand the relative importance of a range of potential determinants, or "drivers", which may influence the nurturing of peaceful societies, both internally and externally.

Statistical analysis is applied to GPI data to uncover specific conditions conducive of peace. Researchers have determined that Positive Peace, which includes the attitudes, institutions, and structures that pre-empt conflict and facilitate functional societies, is the main driver of peace. The eight pillars of positive peace are well-functioning government, sound business environment, acceptance of the rights of others, good relations with neighbours, free flow of information, high levels of human capital, low levels of corruption, and equitable distribution of resources. Well-functioning government, low levels of corruption, acceptance of the rights of others, and good relations with neighbours are more important in countries suffering from high levels of violence. Free flow of information and sound business environment become more important when a country is approaching the global average level of peacefulness, also described as the Mid-Peace level. Low levels of corruption is the only Pillar that is strongly significant across all three levels of peacefulness. This suggests it is an important transformational factor at all stages of a nation's development.

Global Peace Index ranking

Legend

• Very high impact
• High impact
• Medium impact
• Low impact
• Very low impact

2023 Global Peace Index Ranking

Rank	Country	Score	Change
1	Iceland	1.124
2	Denmark	1.31	1
3	Ireland	1.312	1
4	New Zealand	1.313	2
5	Austria	1.316	1
6	Singapore	1.332	4
7	Portugal	1.333	1
8	Slovenia	1.334	4
9	Japan	1.336
10	Switzerland	1.339	1
11	Canada	1.35	2
12	Czechia	1.379	5
13	Finland	1.399	3
14	Croatia	1.450	1
15	Germany	1.456	2
16	Netherlands	1.49	5
17	Bhutan	1.496	5
18	Hungary	1.508	4
19	Malaysia	1.513
20	Belgium	1.523	4
21	Qatar	1.524	1
22	Australia	1.525	4
23	Mauritius	1.546	5
24	Norway	1.550	6
25	Estonia	1.563	1
26	Slovakia	1.578	6
27	Latvia	1.582	3
28	Sweden	1.625	1
29	Poland	1.634	6
30	Bulgaria	1.643	5
31	Romania	1.649	4
32	Spain	1.649
33	Taiwan	1.649	2
34	Italy	1.662	2
35	Kuwait	1.669	3
36	Lithuania	1.671	2
37	United Kingdom	1.693	1
38	North Macedonia	1.713	1
39	Costa Rica	1.731	2
40	Albania	1.745
41	Vietnam	1.745	4
42	Botswana	1.762	6
43	South Korea	1.763	6
44	Mongolia	1.765	5
45	Montenegro	1.772	5
46	Laos	1.779	3
47	Sierra Leone	1.792
48	Oman	1.794	18
49	Timor Leste	1.796	3
50	Uruguay	1.798	5
51	Ghana	1.799	8
52	Senegal	1.827	4
53	Indonesia	1.829	12
54	Argentina	1.837	10
55	Madagascar	1.846
56	Namibia	1.859	6
57	Moldova	1.873	4
58	Chile	1.874	5
59	The Gambia	1.888	8
60	Greece	1.890	6
61	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.892	4
62	Jordan	1.895	6
63	Zambia	1.898	4
64	Cyprus	1.904	1
65	Serbia	1.921	7
66	Armenia	1.929	3
67	France	1.939
68=	Panama	1.942	8
68=	Paraguay	1.942	12
70=	Trinidad and Tobago	1.946	1
70=	Kosovo	1.946	5
70=	Liberia	1.946	8
73	Cambodia	1.947	1
74	Malawi	1.970	4
75	United Arab Emirates	1.979	3
76	Kazakhstan	1.980	21
77	Jamaica	1.986	3
78	Bolivia	2.001	1
79	Nepal	2.006	5
80	China	2.009	6
81	Tunisia	2.010	1
82	Equatorial Guinea	2.013	19
83	Dominican Republic	2.019	5
84=	Angola	2.020	9
84=	Morocco	2.020	1
86	Uzbekistan	2.033	2
87	Guinea Bissau	2.045	12
88=	Bangladesh	2.051	8
88=	Rwanda	2.051	3
90	Ivory Coast	2.053	18
91	Tanzania	2.058	2
92	Thailand	2.061	13
93	Gabon	2.068	6
94	Georgia	2.071	1
95	Azerbaijan	2.090	15
96	Algeria	2.094	8
97=	Ecuador	2.095	24
97=	Papua New Guinea	2.095	8
99	Cuba	2.103	1
100	Turkmenistan	2.107	3
101	Kyrgyzstan	2.110	16
102	Tajikistan	2.114	8
103=	Guatemala	2.130	2
103=	Peru	2.130	1
103=	Togo	2.130	4
106	Guyana	2.134	5
107	Sri Lanka	2.136	18
108	Bahrain	2.145	1
109	Swaziland	2.168	17
110	Benin	2.177	1
111	Lesotho	2.193	13
112	Djibouti	2.196	1
113	Republic of the Congo	2.210	1
114	Mauritania	2.228	4
115	Philippines	2.229	6
116	Belarus	2.248	4
117	Kenya	2.254	2
118	Mozambique	2.259	2
119	Saudi Arabia	2.260	5
120	Honduras	2.265	5
121	Egypt	2.267	5
122	El Salvador	2.279	6
123	Nicaragua	2.294
124=	Zimbabwe	2.300	3
124=	Uganda	2.300	1
126	India	2.314	2
127	Guinea	2.359	2
128	Burundi	2.393	6
129	Haiti	2.395	17
130	South Africa	2.405	8
131	United States	2.448
132	Brazil	2.462
133	Eritrea	2.505
134	Palestine	2.538	4
135	Lebanon	2.581	1
136	Mexico	2.599	3
137	Libya	2.605	14
138	Niger	2.625	2
139	Cameroon	2.660	5
140=	Venezuela	2.693	5
140=	Colombia	2.693	2
142	Chad	2.699	5
143	Israel	2.706	8
144	Nigeria	2.713	3
145	Myanmar	2.741	7
146	Pakistan	2.745	2
147=	Turkey	2.800	5
147=	Iran	2.800	1
149	North Korea	2.848	4
150	Burkina Faso	2.868	3
151	Ethiopia	2.872	2
152	Central African Republic	2.934	2
153	Mali	2.963	4
154	Iraq	3.006	3
155	Sudan	3.023
156	Somalia	3.036	2
157	Ukraine	3.043	14
158	Russia	3.142	5
159	Democratic Republic of the Congo	3.214
160	South Sudan	3.221
161	Syria	3.294
162	Yemen	3.350
163	Afghanistan	3.448

Note:The GPI's methodology is updated regularly and is improved to reflect the most up-to-date datasets. Each year's GPI report includes a detailed description of the methodology used. Also, the data is revised periodically and so values from previous years may change accordingly.
These tables contain the scores and ranking published in the official annual reports, for the latestrevised dataplease visit theInteractive world map of the Global Peace IndexArchived2022-07-16 at theWayback Machine.

Responses

The Index has received endorsements as a political project from a number of major international figures, including the formerSecretary-General of the United Nations,Kofi Annan;formerPresidentofFinlandand 2008Nobel Peace PrizelaureateMartti Ahtisaari;theDalai Lama;ArchbishopDesmond Tutu;Muhammad Yunus;and former United States PresidentJimmy Carter.

Jeffrey SachsatColumbia Universitysaid: "The GPI continues its pioneering work in drawing the world's attention to the massive resources we are squandering in violence and conflict."Some atAustralian National Universitysay that the GPI report presents "the latest and most comprehensive global data on trends in peace, violence and war" and "provides the world's best analysis of the statistical factors associated with long-term peace, as well as economic analysis on the macroeconomic impacts of everyday violence and war on the global economy."

Criticism

According toThe Economist,the weighting of military expenditure "may seem to give heart to freeloaders: countries that enjoy peace precisely because others (often the USA) care for their defence".

The Global Peace Index has been criticized for not including indicators specifically relating to violence against women and children.

The impact of Global Peace Index has been lower on the academic study of war and peace than on international organizations.

See also

• Appeasement
• Global Militarisation Index
• Global Terrorism Index
• Human Development Index
• Institute for Economics and Peace
• Steve Killelea
• United Kingdom Peace Index
• United States Peace Index
• World Happiness Report
• World peace
• Democratic peace theory#Interactive model of democratic peace

External links

• Vision of Humanity – Global Peace Index SiteArchived2018-02-24 at theWayback Machine
• Institute for Economics and PeaceArchived2023-07-05 at theWayback Machine
• Interactive world map of the Global Peace IndexArchived2022-07-16 at theWayback Machine
• Integrated ResearchArchived2023-08-30 at theWayback MachineSteve Killelea is the founder of technology company Integrated Research
• Uppsala Conflict Data Program, an organized violence database
• Global Peace Index 2013: The Full ListArchived2023-03-13 at theWayback Machine
• List of safest countries by Global Peace Index
• Vision of Humanity – Global Peace Index Site Archived 2024-6-12 at the Wayback Machine