– The world became a more peaceful place in 2017, according to figures released today in the annual Global Peace Index (GPI). Since last year 93 countries recorded higher levels of peace while 68 deteriorated, resulting in an improvement in world peace. The improvement was mainly driven by lower levels of state-sponsored terror – extra-judicial killings and torture – and the prior withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan by all but four of the 50 countries that provided military assistance.
The 11th edition of the index, published by international think-tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), captures the impact of political polarisation in the US stemming from the divisive 2016 Presidential Elections. Despite improvements in Canada, the growing intensity of internal conflict, increases in terrorism and higher perceptions of criminality saw the US fall 11 places to 114th, resulting in North America recording the largest drop of any region.
Steve Killelea, Founder and Executive Chairman of the IEP commented: “While the true extent of the significant political polarity in the US will take years to be fully realised, its disruptive influence is already evident. Underlying conditions of increasing inequality, rising perceptions of corruption, and declining falling press freedoms have all contributed to this deterioration in the US, leading to the overall decline in peace in the North America region.”
The report also analyses the rise of populism through the lens of Positive Peace – a measure of the attitudes, structures and institutions that sustain peace. The sharp increase in support for populist parties in the past decade closely corresponds with deteriorations in Positive Peace, with some of the largest falls recorded in Italy, France and Spain.
Steve Killelea continued: “The increasing role of populist parties in mainstream European politics is reflected against a backdrop of deteriorating Positive Peace, specifically in terms of persistent challenges to the free flow of information, levels of corruption and acceptance of the rights of others. Without addressing these underlying drivers of peace it will not be possible to build more peaceful societies.”
Despite the global number of deaths from terrorism decreasing by 10% between 2014 and 2015, the number of countries witnessing historically high levels of terrorism hit an all-time high in this year’s report at 23, including Denmark, Sweden, France, and Turkey. Europe was significantly impacted, with major attacks in Nice seeing France fall five places in the overall ranking to 51st. The impact of other attacks such as in Brussels and London were also evident, although the more recent attack in Manchester has yet to be reflected in the figures. Overall, the most significant increases in deaths from terrorism were in OECD countries, which have collectively experienced a 900% increase between 2007 and 2016.
The IEP estimates the global impact of violence to have been 12.6% of world GDP in 2016 or $14.3 trillion. While still staggeringly high at $1,953 for every person in the world, this represents a slight (3%) decrease from 2015 and the first reduction since 2011 – the year that corresponds with the start of the Syrian war. On average, violent conflict accounts for 37% of GDP in the ten least peaceful countries, compared to only 3% for the ten most peaceful. Syria remains the least peaceful country for the fifth year running, having fallen 64 places since the index began – the largest decline of the past decade.
Iceland maintained its position as the world’s most peaceful country, a title it has held onto since 2008, while New Zealand and Portugal replace Denmark and Austria in second and third position. Portugal’s notable climb to third in the overall rankings was driven by a steady recovery from its fiscal crisis, resulting in overall greater internal stability for the country that was ranked 16th less than five years ago.
Steve Killelea concluded “Although this year’s uptick is reassuring, the world is still mired with conflict in the Middle East, political turmoil in the US, refugee flows and terrorism in Europe. When combined with the increasing level of peace inequality, whereby the least peaceful countries are moving further apart from the most peaceful, the resulting scenario is one in which further improvements in peace are not guaranteed.”
REGIONAL RANKING + HIGHLIGHTS
Six of the nine regions became more peaceful with the greatest improvements recorded in South America. Europe held onto its position as the most peaceful region, while the MENA region remains the most violent.
For more information, go to http://www.visionofhumanity.org.
NOTES TO EDITORS
GPI report, video, and interactive maps are available at: http://www.visionofhumanity.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlobPeaceIndex (#GPI2017)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/globalpeaceindex
About the Global Peace Index (GPI)
This is the 11th edition of the GPI: the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). It gauges on-going domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and the degree of militarisation in 163 countries and territories by taking into account 23 indicators.
Aboutthe Institute for Economics and Peace
IEP is an international and independent think tank dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive, achievable and tangible measure of human well-being and progress. It has offices in Sydney, New York, The Hague and Mexico City.
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