Global Peace Index

The Global Peace Index (GPI) is a report produced by the Australia-based NGO Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) which measures the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories (collectively accounting for 99.7 per cent of the world's population) according to their levels of peacefulness. In the past decade, the GPI has presented trends of increased global violence and less peacefulness.

The GPI (Global Peace Index) is developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks with data collected by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Index was first launched in 2007, with subsequent reports being released annually. In 2015 it ranked 165 countries, up from 121 in 2007. The study was conceived by Australian technology entrepreneur Steve Killelea, and is endorsed by individuals such as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, and 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari.[citation needed] The updated index is released each year at events in London, Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations Secretariat in New York City.

The 2025 GPI indicates Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, Singapore, Portugal, Denmark, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Japan to be the most peaceful countries, and Russia, Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, Israel, Mali, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and North Korea to be the least peaceful. Among the top 7 most populous nations accounting for over half of the world's population and approximately half of the total GDP of the world, Indonesia ranks 48th overall on the Global Peace Index, China 88th, India 116th, Brazil 131st, the United States 132nd, Pakistan 140th and Nigeria 147th. Findings of the 2025 GPI indicate a 5.4 per cent deterioration in the global level of peace over the preceding 17 years and a growing inequality in peace between the most and least peaceful countries.

Ten indicators broadly assess what might be described as safety and security in society. Their assertion is that low crime rates, minimal incidences of terrorist acts and violent demonstrations, harmonious relations with neighbouring countries, a stable political scene, and a small proportion of the population being internally displaced or refugees can be suggestive of peacefulness.

Indicators of peacefulness

In 2017, 23 indicators were used to establish peacefulness scores for each country. The indicators were originally selected with the assistance of an expert panel in 2007 and are reviewed by the expert panel on an annual basis. The scores for each indicator are normalised on a scale of 1–5, whereby qualitative indicators are banded into five groupings, and quantitative ones are scored from 1–5, to the third decimal point. A table of the indicators is below. In the table, UCDP stands for the Uppsala Conflict Data Program maintained by the University of Uppsala in Sweden, EIU for The Economist Intelligence Unit, UNSCT for the United Nations Survey of Criminal Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, ICPS is the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College London, IISS for the International Institute for Strategic Studies publication The Military Balance, and SIPRI for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Arms Transfers Database.

Indicator	Source	Coding
Number and duration of internal conflicts	UCDP, IEP	Total number
Number of deaths from external organized conflict	UCDP Armed Conflict Dataset	Total number
Number of deaths from internal organized conflict	International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database	Total number
Number, duration, and role in external conflicts	UCDP Battle-related Deaths Dataset, IEP	Total number
Intensity of organized internal conflict	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Relations with neighbouring countries	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Level of perceived criminality in society	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Number of refugees and displaced persons as percentage of population	UNHCR and IDMC	Refugee population by country or territory of origin, plus the number of a country's internally displaced people (IDP's) as a percentage of the country's total population
Political instability	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Impact of terrorism	Global Terrorism Index (IEP)	Quantitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Political terror	Amnesty International and US State Department	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Number of homicides per 100,000 people	UNODC Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (CTS); EIU estimates	Total number
Level of violent crime	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Likelihood of violent demonstrations	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5
Number of jailed persons per 100,000 people	World Prison Brief, Institute for Criminal Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London	Total number
Number of internal security officers and police per 100,000 people	UNODC CTS; EIU estimates	Total number; Civil police force distinct from national guards or local militia
Military expenditure as a percentage of GDP	The Military Balance and IISS	Cash outlays of central or federal government to meet costs of national armed forces, as a percentage of GDP, scores from 1 to 5 based on percentages
Number of armed-services personnel per 100,000	The Military Balance and IISS	All full-time active armed-services personnel
Volume of transfers of major conventional weapons as recipient (imports) per 100,000 people	SIPRI Arms Transfers Database	Imports of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
Volume of transfers of major conventional weapons as supplier (exports) per 100,000 people	SIPRI Arms Transfers Database	Exports of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
Financial contribution to UN peacekeeping missions	United Nations Committee on Contributions and IEP	Percentage of countries' "outstanding payments versus their annual assessment to the budget of the current peacekeeping missions" over an average of three years, scored from 1–5 scale based on percentage of promised contributions met
Nuclear and heavy weapons capability	The Military Balance, IISS, SIPRI, UN Register of Conventional Arms and IEP	1–5 scale based on accumulated points; 1 point per armoured vehicle and artillery pieces, 5 points per tank, 20 points per combat aircraft, 100 points per warship, 1000 points for aircraft carrier and nuclear submarine
Ease of access to small arms and light weapons	EIU	Qualitative scale, ranked 1 to 5

Indicators not already ranked on a 1 to 5 scale were converted by using the following formula: x = [x - min(x)] / [max(x) - min(x)], where max(x) and min(x) are the highest and lowest values for that indicator of the countries ranked in the index. The 0 to 1 scores that resulted were then converted to the 1 to 5 scale. Individual indicators were then weighted according to the expert panel's judgment of their importance. The scores were then tabulated into two weighted sub-indices: internal peace, weighted at 60% of a country's final score, and external peace, weighted at 40% of a country's final score. "Negative Peace", defined as the absence of violence or of the fear of violence, is used as the definition of peace to create the Global Peace Index. An additional aim of the GPI database is to facilitate deeper study of the concept of positive peace, or those attitudes, institutions, and structures that drive peacefulness in society. The GPI also examines relationships between peace and reliable international measures, including democracy and transparency, education and material well-being. As such, it seeks to understand the relative importance of a range of potential determinants, or "drivers", which may influence the nurturing of peaceful societies, both internally and externally.

Statistical analysis is applied to GPI data to uncover specific conditions conducive of peace. Researchers have determined that Positive Peace, which includes the attitudes, institutions, and structures that pre-empt conflict and facilitate functional societies, is the main driver of peace. The eight pillars of positive peace are well-functioning government, sound business environment, acceptance of the rights of others, good relations with neighbours, free flow of information, high levels of human capital, low levels of corruption, and equitable distribution of resources. Well-functioning government, low levels of corruption, acceptance of the rights of others, and good relations with neighbours are more important in countries suffering from high levels of violence. Free flow of information and sound business environment become more important when a country is approaching the global average level of peacefulness, also described as the Mid-Peace level. Low levels of corruption is the only Pillar that is strongly significant across all three levels of peacefulness. This suggests it is an important transformational factor at all stages of a nation's development.

Global Peace Index ranking

Legend

Very high state of peace
High state of peace
Medium state of peace
Low state of peace
Very low state of peace

2025 Global Peace Index Ranking
Rank	Country	Score	Change
1	Iceland	1.095
2	Ireland	1.260
3	New Zealand	1.282	2
4	Austria	1.294	1
5	Switzerland	1.294	1
6	Singapore	1.357
7	Portugal	1.371	1
8	Denmark	1.393	1
9	Slovenia	1.409
10	Finland	1.420	1
11	Czech Republic	1.435	2
12	Japan	1.440	3
13	Malaysia	1.469	1
=14	Netherlands	1.491
=14	Canada	1.491	5
16	Belgium	1.492	4
17	Hungary	1.500	1
18	Australia	1.505	1
19	Croatia	1.519	1
20	Germany	1.53	3
21	Bhutan	1.536
=22	Latvia	1.558	5
=22	Lithuania	1.558	5
24	Estonia	1.559	2
25	Spain	1.578
26	Mauritius	1.586	3
27	Qatar	1.593	1
28	Slovakia	1.609	1
29	Bulgaria	1.610	1
30	United Kingdom	1.634	2
31	Kuwait	1.642
32	Norway	1.644	8
33	Italy	1.662	1
34	Montenegro	1.685	5
35	Sweden	1.709	2
36	Poland	1.713	1
37	Mongolia	1.719	8
=38	Romania	1.721	2
=38	Vietnam	1.721	1
40	Taiwan	1.730	2
41	South Korea	1.736	2
42	Oman	1.738	5
43	Botswana	1.743	2
44	Timor-Leste	1.758	5
45	Greece	1.764	3
46	Argentina	1.768	5
47	Laos	1.783	3
48	Uruguay	1.784
49	Indonesia	1.786	3
50	Namibia	1.789	4
51	North Macedonia	1.799	4
=52	Albania	1.812	6
=52	United Arab Emirates	1.812	2
54	Costa Rica	1.843	4
55	The Gambia	1.855	16
56	Kazakhstan	1.875	5
57	Sierra Leone	1.887	2
58	Armenia	1.893	10
=59	Madagascar	1.895	6
=59	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1.895	3
61	Ghana	1.898	3
62	Chile	1.899
63	Kosovo	1.908	3
=64	Serbia	1.914	1
=65	Zambia	1.914	9
66	Moldova	1.918	2
67	Uzbekistan	1.926	2
68	Cyprus	1.933	1
69	Senegal	1.936	5
70	Liberia	1.939	6
71	Malawi	1.955	14
72	Jordan	1.957	2
73	Tanzania	1.965	8
74	France	1.967	5
75	Paraguay	1.981	2
=76	Nepal	1.987	8
=76	Angola	1.987	11
78	Kyrgyzstan	1.988	5
=79	Tajikistan	1.996	10
=80	Dominican Republic	1.996	6
81	Tunisia	1.998	3
82	Equatorial Guinea	2.004	15
83	Bolivia	2.005	10
84	Panama	2.006	4
85	Morocco	2.012	3
86	Thailand	2.017	5
=87	Cambodia	2.019	12
=87	Turkmenistan	2.019	7
89	Trinidad and Tobago	2.020	17
90	Saudi Arabia	2.035	14
91	Rwanda	2.036	12
92	Algeria	2.042	1
93	Jamaica	2.047	13
94	Ivory Coast	2.066	2
95	Azerbaijan	2.067	17
96	Peru	2.073	14
97	Sri Lanka	2.075	2
98	China	2.093	11
99	Eswatini	2.094	5
100	Bahrain	2.099	7
101	Guinea-Bissau	2.112	5
102	Cuba	2.123	2
103	Republic of the Congo	2.132	5
104	El Salvador	2.136	1
105	Philippines	2.148	6
106	Guyana	2.149
107	Egypt	2.157	2
108	Guatemala	2.174
109	Georgia	2.185	8
110	Mauritania	2.204	8
111	Nicaragua	2.207	2
112	Benin	2.211	5
113	Uganda	2.217	12
114	Zimbabwe	2.223	8
115	India	2.229
116	Papua New Guinea	2.230	9
117	Gabon	2.238	1
118	Guinea	2.253	6
=119	Lesotho	2.267	4
=119	Belarus	2.267	2
121	Mozambique	2.273	7
122	Djibouti	2.276	2
123	Bangladesh	2.318	33
=124	South Africa	2.347	3
=124	Honduras	2.347	4
126	Togo	2.381	7
127	Kenya	2.392	1
128	United States	2.443
129	Ecuador	2.459
130	Brazil	2.472	1
131	Libya	2.478	1
132	Eritrea	2.542	1
133	Burundi	2.574	3
134	Chad	2.593
135	Mexico	2.636	2
136	Lebanon	2.674	1
137	Cameroon	2.683	5
138	Ethiopia	2.688	5
139	Venezuela	2.692	3
140	Colombia	2.695	1
141	Haiti	2.731	3
142	Iran	2.750	4
143	Niger	2.759	4
144	Pakistan	2.797	4
145	Palestine	2.811	1
146	Turkey	2.852	1
147	Iraq	2.862	3
148	Nigeria	2.869	3
149	North Korea	2.911
150	Central African Republic	2.912	2
151	Somalia	2.983	3
152	Burkina Faso	3.016
153	Myanmar	3.045	2
154	Mali	3.061	1
155	Israel	3.108
156	South Sudan	3.117	2
157	Syria	3.184	1
158	Afghanistan	3.229	2
159	Yemen	3.262	3
160	Democratic Republic of the Congo	3.292	3
161	Sudan	3.323	2
162	Ukraine	3.434	3
163	Russia	3.441	2

Note: The GPI's methodology is updated regularly and is improved to reflect the most up-to-date datasets. Each year's GPI report includes a detailed description of the methodology used. Also, the data is revised periodically and so values from previous years may change accordingly. These tables contain the scores and ranking published in the official annual reports. The latest revised data can be found at Vision of Humanity's 2022-07-16 at the Wayback Machine.

Responses

The Index has received endorsements as a political project from a number of major international figures, including the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan; former President of Finland and 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari; the 14th Dalai Lama; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Muhammad Yunus; and former United States President Jimmy Carter.

Jeffrey Sachs at Columbia University said: "The GPI continues its pioneering work in drawing the world's attention to the massive resources we are squandering in violence and conflict." Some at Australian National University say that the GPI report presents "the latest and most comprehensive global data on trends in peace, violence and war" and "provides the world's best analysis of the statistical factors associated with long-term peace, as well as economic analysis on the macroeconomic impacts of everyday violence and war on the global economy."

According to The Economist, the weighting of military expenditure "may seem to give heart to freeloaders: countries that enjoy peace precisely because others (often the USA) care for their defence". The Global Peace Index has been criticized for not including indicators specifically relating to violence against women and children. The impact of Global Peace Index has been lower on the academic study of war and peace than on international organizations.

Previous reports

. Institute for Economics & Peace. Feb 6, 2024.
Institute for Economics and Peace (2023). (PDF). Institute for Economics & Peace. ISBN 978-0-6451494-9-4.
. Vision of Humanity. Oct 13, 2021.
Chalabi, Mona (Jun 11, 2013). . the Guardian.
Rogers, Simon (May 25, 2011). . the Guardian.
(PDF).

Notes

External links

2018-02-24 at the Wayback Machine
2023-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
2022-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
2023-08-30 at the Wayback Machine Steve Killelea is the founder of technology company Integrated Research
2023-03-13 at the Wayback Machine
Vision of Humanity – Global Peace Index Site Archived 2024-6-12 at the Wayback Machine