Global governance
Global peace index: methodology, reports and findings
Ranking peaceful countries
Authors:
; Institute for Economics and Peace
Publisher:
Vision of Humanity, 2008
The Global Peace Index (GPI) 2008 ranks nations based on their relative states of peace. Covering 140 countries, the GPI brings a snapshot of relative peacefulness among nations while continuing to contribute to an understanding of what factors help create or sustain more peaceful societies.
The index is composed of 24 qualitative and quantitative indicators, which combine internal and external factors ranging from a nation’s level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights.
An international panel of academics, business people, philanthropists and peace institutions selected these indicators. The GPI has been tested against a range of potential “drivers” or potential determinants of peace - including levels of democracy and transparency, education and material well-being.
The following are among the main highlights:
- the average score for the group of 140 nations is 2.043 (based on a 1-5 measure) with the countries relatively evenly spread around the mean, although there is an exceptional tail on the countries at the bottom of the ranking
- Iceland is ranked as the country most at peace, followed by Denmark and Norway.
- small, stable and democratic countries are the most peaceful - 16 of the top 20 countries are western or central European democracies. Most of them are members of the European Union.
- three Scandinavian counties are in the top ten. Island nations generally fare well.
- western Europe is markedly the most peaceful region, with the majority of the countries in this group ranking in the top 20 overall.
- Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Cyprus and Greece fare the least well of the European nations.
- Spain, which experienced an upsurge of violence linked to Basque separatists in 2007, fares less well on our internal measures of conflict, as do Cyprus and Greece.
- the United Kingdom and France’s relatively high levels of militarization, sophisticated weapon industries and arms exports push them lower down the overall rankings.
- the United Kingdom’s battlefield troop losses in Afghanistan and Iraq during the review period reduce its ranking further to 49th overall.
- most of the other regions are characterized by wide variations in their overall rankings.
