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Global Peace Index

Measures the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness

The Global Peace Index (GPI) is a report produced by the Australia-based NGO Institute 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, the GPI has presented trends of increased global violence and less peacefulness.

The GPI (Global Peace Index) is developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks with data collected by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Index was first launched in 2007, with subsequent reports being released annually. In 2015 it ranked 165 countries, up from 121 in 2007. The study was conceived by Australian technology entrepreneur Steve Killelea, and is endorsed by individuals such as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, and 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari. The updated index is released each year at events in London, Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations Secretariat in New York City.

The 2024 GPI indicates Iceland, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Portugal, Denmark, Slovenia, Malaysia and Canada to be the most peaceful countries, while Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Congo, Russia, Syria, Israel and Mali to be the least peaceful. Among the top 7 most populous nations accounting for over half of the world's population and approximately half of the total GDP of the world, Indonesia ranks 48th overall on the Global Peace Index, China 88th, India 116th, Brazil 131st, the United States 132nd, Pakistan 140th and Nigeria 147th. Findings of the 2024 GPI indicate a 6 per cent deterioration in the global level of peace over the preceding 16 years and a growing inequality in peace between the most and least peaceful countries.

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.

Indicators 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 the Uppsala Conflict Data Program maintained by the University of Uppsala in Sweden, EIU for The Economist Intelligence Unit, UNSCT for the United Nations Survey of Criminal Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, ICPS is the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College London, IISS for the International Institute for Strategic Studies publication The Military Balance, and SIPRI for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Arms Transfers Database.

Indicator	Source	Coding
Number and duration of internal conflicts	UCDP, IEP	Total number
Number of deaths from external organized conflict	UCDP Armed Conflict Dataset	Total number
Number of deaths from internal organized conflict	International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database	Total number
Number, duration, and role in external conflicts	UCDP Battle-related Deaths Dataset, IEP	Total number
Intensity of organized internal conflict	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Relations with neighbouring countries	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Level of perceived criminality in society	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
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
Political instability	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Impact of terrorism	Global Terrorism Index (IEP)	Quantitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Political terror	Amnesty International and US State Department	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Number of homicides per 100,000 people	UNODC Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (CTS); EIU estimates	Total number
Level of violent crime	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Likelihood of violent demonstrations	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Number of jailed persons per 100,000 people	World Prison Brief, Institute for Criminal Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London	Total number
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
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
Number of armed-services personnel per 100,000	The Military Balance and IISS	All full-time active armed-services personnel
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
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
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
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
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: , 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

Rank	Country	Score
1	Iceland	1.095
2	Ireland	1.260
3	New Zealand	1.282
4	Austria	1.294
5	Switzerland	1.294
6	Singapore	1.357
7	Portugal	1.371
8	Denmark	1.393
9	Slovenia	1.409
10	Finland	1.420
11	Czechia	1.435
12	Japan	1.440
13	Malaysia	1.469
	Netherlands	1.491
	Canada	1.491
16	Belgium	1.492
17	Hungary	1.500
18	Australia	1.505
19	Croatia	1.519
20	Germany	1.53
21	Bhutan	1.536
	Latvia	1.558
	Lithuania	1.558
24	Estonia	1.559
25	Spain	1.578
26	Mauritius	1.586
27	Qatar	1.593
28	Slovakia	1.609
29	Bulgaria	1.610
30	United Kingdom	1.634
31	Kuwait	1.642
32	Norway	1.644
33	Italy	1.662
34	Montenegro	1.685
35	Sweden	1.709
36	Poland	1.713
37	Mongolia	1.719
	Romania	1.721
	Vietnam	1.721
40	Taiwan	1.730
41	South Korea	1.736
42	Oman	1.738
43	Botswana	1.743
44	Timor-Leste	1.758
45	Greece	1.764
46	Argentina	1.768
47	Laos	1.783
48	Uruguay	1.784
49	Indonesia	1.786
50	Namibia	1.789
51	North Macedonia	1.799
	Albania	1.812
	United Arab Emirates	1.812
54	Costa Rica	1.843
55	The Gambia	1.855
56	Kazakhstan	1.875
57	Sierra Leone	1.887
58	Armenia	1.893
	Madagascar	1.895
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.895
61	Ghana	1.898
62	Chile	1.899
63	Kosovo	1.908
	Serbia	1.914
	Zambia	1.914
66	Moldova	1.918
67	Uzbekistan	1.926
68	Cyprus	1.933
69	Senegal	1.936
70	Liberia	1.939
71	Malawi	1.955
72	Jordan	1.957
73	Tanzania	1.965
74	France	1.967
75	Paraguay	1.981
	Nepal	1.987
	Angola	1.987
78	Kyrgyz Republic	1.988
	Tajikistan	1.996
	Dominican Republic	1.996
81	Tunisia	1.998
82	Equatorial Guinea	2.004
83	Bolivia	2.005
84	Panama	2.006
85	Morocco	2.012
86	Thailand	2.017
	Cambodia	2.019
	Turkmenistan	2.019
89	Trinidad and Tobago	2.020
90	Saudi Arabia	2.035
91	Rwanda	2.036
92	Algeria	2.042
93	Jamaica	2.047
94	Côte d'Ivoire	2.066
95	Azerbaijan	2.067
96	Peru	2.073
97	Sri Lanka	2.075
98	China	2.093
99	Eswatini	2.094
100	Bahrain	2.099
101	Guinea-Bissau	2.112
102	Cuba	2.123
103	Republic of the Congo	2.132
104	El Salvador	2.136
105	Philippines	2.148
106	Guyana	2.149
107	Egypt	2.157
108	Guatemala	2.174
109	Georgia	2.185
110	Mauritania	2.204
111	Nicaragua	2.207
112	Benin	2.211
113	Uganda	2.217
114	Zimbabwe	2.223
115	India	2.229
116	Papua New Guinea	2.230
117	Gabon	2.238
118	Guinea	2.253
	Lesotho	2.267
	Belarus	2.267
121	Mozambique	2.273
122	Djibouti	2.276
123	Bangladesh	2.318
	South Africa	2.347
	Honduras	2.347
126	Togo	2.381
127	Kenya	2.392
128	United States	2.443
129	Ecuador	2.459
130	Brazil	2.472
131	Libya	2.478
132	Eritrea	2.542
133	Burundi	2.574
134	Chad	2.593
135	Mexico	2.636
136	Lebanon	2.674
137	Cameroon	2.683
138	Ethiopia	2.688
139	Venezuela	2.692
140	Colombia	2.695
141	Haiti	2.731
142	Iran	2.750
143	Niger	2.759
144	Pakistan	2.797
145	Palestine	2.811
146	Turkey	2.852
147	Iraq	2.862
148	Nigeria	2.869
149	North Korea	2.911
150	Central African Republic	2.912
151	Somalia	2.983
152	Burkina Faso	3.016
153	Myanmar	3.045
154	Mali	3.061
155	Israel	3.108
156	South Sudan	3.117
157	Syria	3.184
158	Afghanistan	3.229
159	Yemen	3.262
160	Democratic Republic of the Congo	3.292
161	Sudan	3.323
162	Ukraine	3.434
163	Russia	3.441

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. The latest revised data can be found at Vision of Humanity's Interactive world map of the Global Peace Index .

Responses

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The Index has received endorsements as a political project from a number of major international figures, including the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan; former President of Finland and 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari; the 14th Dalai Lama; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Muhammad Yunus; and former United States President Jimmy Carter.

Jeffrey Sachs at Columbia University said: "The GPI continues its pioneering work in drawing the world's attention to the massive resources we are squandering in violence and conflict." Some at Australian National University say 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."

According to The 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.

Previous reports

Notes

References

(June 2023). "Global Peace Index Map » The Most & Least Peaceful Countries".
[[Institute for Economics & Peace]]. "Global Peace Index 2017".
Wang, Monica. "The World's Most And Least Peaceful Countries In 2016". Forbes.
"Global Peace Index".
(2024-06-11). "'Peacefulness' Is Down Globally. These Are the 10 Most – and Least – Peaceful Countries.".
(June 2023). "Global Peace Index 2023". [[Institute for Economics & Peace]].
(2024-01-26). "INDEX". Catholic University of America Press.
Information about indicators and methodology "2013 Global Peace Index"(PDF). Institute for Economics and Peace. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
Institute for Economics and Peace. "Global Peace Index Report, Methodology, pg. 113–136".
"2025 Global Peace Index". [[Institute for Economics & Peace]].
Vizzuality. "Resource Watch".
''Endorsers for GPI — Vision of Humanity.'' Retrieved 2013-08-16.
"Global Peace Index: World Less Peaceful in 2010 Report, Violence Impacting Global Economy $7 Trillion Annually". Phil's Stock World.
(2017-06-09). "Giving peace a chance? 2017 Global Peace Index". ANU.
(2007-05-31). "Give peace a rating". The Economist.
(2007-07-26). "Dark underbelly of the world's most 'peaceful' countries". Christian Science Monitor.
(2017). "Measuring Peace: Comparability, Commensurability, and Complementarity Using Bottom-Up Indicators". International Studies Review.

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