The Institute for Economics and Peace has released their 2022 Global Peace Index (GPI), which studies 163 countries for “the level of societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarisation” in order to provide an analysis of peace for each country.  This year’s report also discusses the conflict in Ukraine and its effect on peacefulness.

“The 2022 GPI finds that the world became less peaceful for the eleventh time in the last 14 years, with the average level of country peacefulness deteriorating by 0.3 per cent over the past year.”  Europe continues to be the most peaceful region, with Iceland still being the most peaceful country since 2008.  Afghanistan continues to be the least peaceful country for the fifth year in a row.

Five countries with the largest deteriorations are all currently experiencing on-going conflict: Russia, Ukraine, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Haiti. The top five countries with the largest improvements are Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and Algeria. The U.S. ranks 129th in peacefulness, lower than the prior year by one level, and dwelling in the second to lowest range for the “State of Peace.”

The document notes,

Despite the overall deterioration relative to 2021, more countries recorded an improvement in peacefulness than a deterioration, with 90 countries recording an improvement, while 71 recorded a deterioration. This shows that the deteriorations in the GPI tended to be sharper than the improvements.

On a positive note, several areas of peace indicators did show improvement on a global scale, and “Terrorism impact is now at its lowest level since the inception of the GPI in 2008.”

For more information on topics related to this piece, visit some HSDL In Focus such as Global Terrorism, Border Security, and Nuclear Weapons, or search specific resources that discuss global peace.