Global Peace Index-2016

Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) on 10 June 2016 released the 2016 Global Peace Index (GPI). It is 10^th edition of GPI that measured peace, its causes and its economic value during 2015 for 163 countries.

India ranked 141 among the 163 countries with 2.566 GPI score. It showed an improvement in peace building as it held 143th rank in 2014 and 2015.

Highlights of 2016 GPI

• The Index shows that the world became less peaceful in 2015, reinforcing the underlying trend of declining peace over the last decade.

• The GPI records a historically less peaceful and more unequal world in which many countries also improved.

• The countries improved in Peace are 81 while deteriorated counts 79.

• The countries that topped the 2016 GPI for being most peaceful are Iceland (1), Denmark (2), Austria (3), New Zealand (4), Portugal (5), Czech Republic (6), Switzerland (7), Canada (8), Japan (9) and Slovenia (10).

• The least peacepul countries are Pakistan (153), Libya (154), Sudan (155), Ukraine (156), Central African Republic (157), Yemen (158), Somalia (159), Afghanistan (160), Iraq (161), South Sudan (162) and Syria (163).

• The majority of the global deterioration is due to the developments in the Middle East and Africa (MENA) which is already the least peaceful region in the world.

• It shows that amidst the global deterioration the world continues to spend enormous resources on creating and containing violence but very little on peace.

• The indicators with the largest yearly deterioration were the impact of terrorism and political instability.

• The countries with the largest deteriorations were Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Poland, Burundi, Kazakhstan and Brazil.

• The indicator with the largest improvement is UN peacekeeping funding, while the second largest improvement was recorded in the security officers and police rate indicator.

• UN member states have formally recognised the critical nature of peacefulness in advancing global development for the first time.

• The 17 SDGs are a new set of goals to target poverty, inequality, injustice and climate change by 2030.

• IEP recommends that independent third party organisations provide complimentary support to NSOs and offer a useful benchmark against which to compare results.