The 2018 Global Peace Index (GPI) indicates Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to be the least peaceful countries in the Central Asian region.
The 2018 GPI ranks Tajikistan and Turkmenistan 114th and 110th respectively among 163 nations and territories.
Kazakhstan ranks 70th, Uzbekistan ranks 104th and Kyrgyzstan ranks 108th.
The 2018 GPI ranks Russia 154th among the ten least peaceful countries of the world.
Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. New Zealand, Austria, Portugal and Denmark also sit in the top five most peaceful rankings.
The 2018 GPI indicates Syria (163rd), Afghanistan (162nd), South Sudan (161st), Iraq (160th) and Somalia (159th) to be the least peaceful countries. Syria remains the least peaceful country in the world, a position it has held for the past five years.
The 2018 Global Peace Index, which is the twelfth edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) ranking 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness, shows the world is less peaceful today than at any time in the last decade.
Produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), the GPI is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. This report presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to-date on trends in peace, its economic value, and how to develop peaceful societies. The GPI covers 99.7% of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace using three thematic domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarization. The results of the 2018 GPI find that the global level of peace has deteriorated by 0.27% in the last year, marking the fourth successive year of deteriorations. Ninety-two countries reportedly deteriorated, while 71 countries improved. The 2018 GPI reveals a world in which the tensions, conflicts, and crises that emerged in the past decade remain unresolved, especially in the Middle East, resulting in a gradual, sustained fall in peacefulness.
The economic impact of violence on the global economy in 2017 was $14.76 trillion in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. This figure is equivalent to 12.4% of the world’s economic activity (gross world product) or $1,988 for every person. The economic impact of violence reportedly increased by 2% during 2017 due to a rise in the economic impact of conflict and increases in internal security spending.
