7th Global Peace Index
The 2013 Global Peace Index finds:
- The world has become 5% less peaceful since 2008
- Europe is the most peaceful region, with 13 of the top 20 most peaceful countries
- War ravaged Afghanistan returns to the bottom of the index
- Syria’s GPI score has fallen by 70% sine 2008
- The total economic impact of containing violence is estimated to be US$9.46 trillion in 2012
- The top three most peaceful countries are Iceland, Denmark and New Zealand.
- With a newly elected government and a steady recovery from the 2011 turmoil, Libya had the biggest improvement in peace score since last year.
- The three least peaceful countries are Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria.
- Syria’s score dropped by the largest margin, with the biggest ever score deterioration in the history of the GPI.
So if we can just get Iceland and Demark to invade each other, we’ll be number one!
The top 10 are:
- Iceland 1.16
- Denmark 1.21
- NZ 1.24
- Austria 1.25
- Switzerland 1.27
- Japan 1.29
- Finland 1.30
- Canada 1.31
- Sweden 1.32
- Belgium 1.34
Australia is 16th=, UK 44th. The summary for NZ is:
The majority of the GPI’s measures of safety and security suggest that New Zealand society is broadly harmonious; violent demonstrations are highly unlikely, while homicides and terrorist acts are very rare. The jailed population dropped, but not sufficiently to have an impact on the country’s overall GPI score; at 194 per 100,000, it remains higher than that of most OECD countries, notably Japan (55) and Switzerland (76). New Zealand’s political scene remained stable, with support for the prime minister, John Key, and the ruling centre-right National Party holding up amid confidence over the government’s handling of the economy, which grew by 2.5% in 2012. New Zealand maintained harmonious relations with its neighbours in 2012; links with Australia are underpinned by the 1983 Closer Economic Relations (CER) agreement. The two governments are negotiating a protocol on a common border, pension portability and joint investment, all of which would move the countries closer to their goal of forming a single economic market