The 12th annual "Global Peace Index" by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent non-profit think tank based in Australia, scored 163 independent states and territories according to their levels of peacefulness.
The study assessed global peace through three filters: safety and security in society, extent of ongoing domestic or international conflict and the degree of militarization. Researchers considered 23 peace indicators to determine scores, including the number of casualties from terrorism and conflicts in that country, the number of murders per capita and the ratio of military spending to gross domestic product.
• Global level of peace has deteriorated by 0.27 percent in the last year.
• A total of 71 countries have shown improvement in their rankings on the index, while, 92 countries have shown deterioration in their rankings on the index.
• Amid continuing social and political turmoil, the world continues to spend resources on creating violence, but very little on peace.
Iceland fetched 1st rank on the index, a position it has held since 2008, followed by New Zealand and Austria at 2nd and 3rd position. Portugal and Denmark rounded up the top five most peaceful rankings.
Syria remains the least peaceful country in the world, a position it has held for the past five years. Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iraq and Somalia round up the list of five least peaceful countries.
Full report here: Global Peace Index 2018
