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Afghanistan is now the least peaceful country in the world, replacing Syria, according to the latest index of world peace released Wednesday. At the same time, Iceland retains its position as the most peaceful country since 2008.
The Institute for Economics & Peace's index also reveals that, for the first time in five years, world peace has slightly improved. On average, country scores improved by 0.09%, with 86 countries registering greater tranquility and 76 deteriorating.
However, even as some of the crises and conflicts of the past decade finally begin to fade, the report revealed that the world was significantly less peaceful than it was 10 years ago. Compared to 2008, the average level of tranquility is 3.78% lower. The index has seen an overall improvement only three times over the past decade.
Specifically, Bhutan recorded the most relative improvement over the last 12 years, with 43 places. Georgia also has the distinction of being the only country to become more than 20% more peaceful from 2008 to now. But this year, the five countries that have progressed the most are Rwanda (24 places at No. 79), Macedonia North (23 places at No. 65 with Greece), Egypt (seven places at No. 136). , Sudan (three places at No. 151) and Ukraine (two places at No. 150).
Iceland shares the top of the index with New Zealand, Portugal, Austria, Denmark and Canada. As a region, Europe remains the most peaceful, while the Middle East and North Africa are still the least peaceful. Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan and Syria join Afghanistan at the bottom of the index.
According to the report, it is in fact the first time that Yemen is among the five least peaceful countries. This comes as observers admit that the "Stockholm Agreement" of December 13, signed by the warring parties of the country, is virtually dead.
Despite the poor performance of the Middle East and North Africa, this year the region as a whole has become more peaceful. The only area to improve further was Russia and Eurasia. The report attributes these improvements to a de-escalation of violence in Ukraine and Syria, resulting in fewer deaths from conflict. This has also led to fewer deaths due to terrorism.
The Asia-Pacific region and Europe have also become more peaceful over the past year, but the three regions of the Americas have deteriorated. Central America and the Caribbean decreased the most, followed by South America and North America. Here, political instability has been the main opposition to peace, with violent unrest in Nicaragua and Venezuela, for example, and growing political division in the United States and Brazil.
To arrive at these results, the Institute for Economics & Peace ranked 163 countries and territories (representing 99.7% of the world's population) according to indicators measuring the levels of security and safety of society, the magnitude ongoing national and international conflicts and the degree of security. militarization.
Since 2008, 17 of the 23 indicators have registered less calm on average, the category of "ongoing conflicts" deteriorating the most – almost 9% – and "security" deteriorating by more than 4%. This is mainly due to internal conflicts and 104 countries with increased terrorist activity. Only 38 countries have improved on this front in the last decade.
However, militarization improved by 2.6% over this period as well, with military spending (as a percentage of GDP) and staffing (per 100,000 population) declining in 98 countries and 117 countries. respectively.
While the global index of peace measures "the absence of violence or the fear of violence" (called "negative peace"), this year's report also recognizes that positive peace – "attitudes, institutions and the structures that create and support peaceful societies "- is vitally important. In the absence of a strong positive peace, the countries that currently rank at the forefront of the global peace index risk sinking into violence when a shock – such as "violence. a political conflict, a climate disaster or an economic slowdown – occurs.
This is why the goal of sustainable development 16 is not just about reducing conflict. Instead, it aims to "promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, to provide access to justice for all and to build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels". Otherwise, the slight improvement the world has seen this year will be good news on a bad landscape.
The Institute for Economics & Peace also produces an index on terrorism around the world. Daniel Hyslop, director of research at the Institute of Economics and Peace, came on the podcast to discuss what big data can tell us about terrorism around the world.
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