Norway, New Zealand Most Peaceful

Norway and New Zealand topped the first Global Peace Index – the first to rank countries around the world according to their peacefulness. The United Kingdom ranked 49th.

Scoring
121 countries were assessed for ‘peacefulness’ based on 24 indicators, including ease of access to “weapons of minor destruction” (guns, small explosives), military expenditure, local corruption, and the level of respect for human rights.

New Zealand (2nd)
New Zealand’s stable political scene, domestic safety and security, good relations with neighbouring countries, and its lack of internal and external conflicts contributed to its high ranking.

Canada (8th)
Canada was the leading Western Hemisphere nation on the list, coming in eighth.

Australia (25th)
Australia’s internal indicators of peace were comparable to New Zealand’s but it was Australia’s military role in the Iraq which was almost wholly responsible for Australia’s much lower ranking on the index.

America (96th)

America’s ranking was brought down by its current external conflicts, its high jail population and murder rate, and its disproportionately high military expenditure.

The main findings of the Global Peace Index were:

• Peacefulness is linked to factors such as income, schooling and the level of regional integration
• Peaceful countries often shared high levels of transparency of government and low corruption
• Small, stable countries which are part of regional blocs are most likely to get a higher ranking

The Index is the brainchild of Australian IT entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Killelea.

Countries Most at Peace