World’s most and least dangerous countries revealed in Global Peace Index

Researchers have revealed where and where not to visit if safety and peace are your top priorities, with this year’s publication of the Global Peace Index (GPI). This 17^th edition of the index reveals, depressingly, that overall world peacefulness has declined by just under half a percent, which may not seem much but fits in with a 15-year downward trend.

Most dangerous

Afghanistan has the indignity of topping the list of the world’s least peaceful countries for the eighth year in a row. It is followed in the worst, or least peaceful five, by Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Those who saw their reputation plummet into notable danger zones are Ukraine and Russia which, unsurprisingly given world events, have seen the greatest and fifth greatest drops in their peacefulness ranking, respectively. Haiti, Mali, and Israel also saw huge declines, and this was based on data gathered before the current Israel-Hamas war.

How is it measured?

The Institute for Economics and Peace uses both qualitative and quantitative criteria in the GPI, a whole 23 of them, and looks at 163 independent states and territories comprising 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.

Three main areas are taken into consideration: how safe and secure society is; ongoing domestic and international conflict levels; and to what extent the country in question is militarising.

Safest countries?

Europe comes out of the list well, as the world’s most peaceful region, hosting seven of the top 10 most peaceful countries.

Iceland has held onto its number one most peaceful country spot for an astonishing 16 years and is flanked by Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and Austria. Iceland was perhaps lucky the report was compiled before the current volcanic threat.

The USA, in contrast, is deemed “low” on the peacefulness scale, at 131^st place in the list, with no shift since last year, even though it has been in a declining “trend that began in 2015” due to civil unrest, “criminality and homicide rate indicators”.

The most dangerous countries in the world 2023

1. Afghanistan
2. Yemen
3. Syria
4. South Sudan
5. Democratic Republic of the Congo
6. Russia
7. Ukraine
8. Somalia
9. Sudan
10. Iraq

The most peaceful countries in the world 2023

1. Iceland
2. Denmark
3. Ireland
4. New Zealand
5. Austria
6. Singapore
7. Portugal
8. Slovenia
9. Japan
10. Switzerland