For the eighth straight year, Iceland has maintained its enviable reputation as the most peaceful country in the world. The least peaceful country in the world? That's easy. It's war-torn Syria, which has held this unwanted ranking for the third consecutive year.
The top 10 most peaceful countries in the world are Iceland; New Zealand; Austria; Portugal; Denmark; Canada; Czech Republic; Singapore; Japan and Ireland.
The 12th edition of the annual "Global Peace Index" (GPI) listing the world's most and least peaceful countries and compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace ranks China 112nd; the United States 121st and Russia, 154th.
Launched in 2007, GPI measures the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. It ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their levels of peacefulness.
GPI is a report produced by the independent non-profit think tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) in Australia. It was developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks with data collected and collated by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The 12th edition reveals a less peaceful world due to intractable global conflicts. Another reason for the less peaceful world is the United States and other world powers are confronting political instability, both from within and without.
It found the world became 0.27 percent less peaceful compared with 2016. It said 92 countries saw their peacefulness deteriorate while just 71 countries experienced the opposite.
The study assessed global peace using three criteria: safety and security in society; extent of ongoing domestic or international conflict and the degree of militarization.
Researchers considered 23 peace indicators to determine scores. These indicators included the number of casualties from terrorism and conflicts in a country; the number of murders per capita and the ratio of military spending to gross domestic product (GDP). Each indicator was scored on a five-point scale.
The Middle East and North Africa again remained the world's least peaceful region. The four most peaceful regions -- Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and South America -- all saw deteriorations in their peacefulness, however.
The study attributed the gradual fall in peacefulness to a range of factors. Among these are "increased terrorist activity, the intensification of conflicts in the Middle East, rising regional tensions in Eastern Europe and northeast Asia, and increasing numbers of refugees and heightened political tensions in Europe and the U.S."
Europe retained its position as the world's most peaceful region, a distinction it's held since 2007. Europe, however, faced increased political instability in 2017-2018, along with heightened terrorism and perceptions of criminality. The study revealed that peacefulness worsened in 23 of the 36 European countries.
The U.S. and six other G20 members (Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey, and Russia) are included in the ranks of the 50 least peaceful countries in the world.
The U.S. ranked 121st out of 163 compared to 114th and 103rd in the 2017 and 2016. Its level of peacefulness is now at its lowest since 2011. Researchers largely attributed the drop in score to a hardening in partisanship in American politics.
