If you want to live in peace, move to Scandinavia.
That’s the message from the latest Global Peace Index (GPI), which found that global peacefulness continued to deteriorate last year due to terrorist activity, conflicts and increasing numbers of refugees and displaced persons.
Iceland was rated the most peaceful country in the world, closely followed by Denmark, while Norway took 10th position and Sweden came in joint 11th place with the Czech Republic.
Other European nations ranked highly with Ireland coming in at 13 on the index, Germany at 17 and the Netherlands at 20. The UK was ranked 47, however, putting it behind Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania.
The GPI said there had been a seven-year gradual, but significant, downward slide in world peace, which overturns a 60-year trend of increasing global peacefulness dating back to the end of World War II.
Meanwhile, the economic impact of containing and dealing with the consequences of global violence last year was estimated to be $9.8 trillion, the GPI said. This is equivalent to 11.3% of global GDP – equal to twice the size of the 54 countries in the African economy.
The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which produces the report, has developed new statistical modelling techniques to identify the 10 countries most threatened by increased levels of unrest and violence in the next two years.
Countries with higher levels of risk include Zambia, Haiti, Argentina, Chad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nepal, Burundi, Georgia, Liberia and World Cup 2022 host Qatar.
Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the IEP said: “Many macro factors have driven the deterioration in peace over the past seven years, including the continued economic repercussions of the global financial crisis, the reverberations of the Arab Spring and the continued spread of terrorism. As these effects are likely to continue into the near future, a strong rebound in peace is unlikely.
“This is resulting in very real costs to the world economy. Increases in the global economic impact of violence and its containment are equivalent to 19% of global economic growth from 2012 to 2013. To put this in perspective, this is around $1,350 per person. The danger is that we fall into a negative cycle: low economic growth leads to higher levels of violence, the containment of which produces lower economic growth.”
Sally Percy is editor of The Treasurer