What are the safest, most peaceful countries in the world? As the world around us seems to have plunged into chaos, with the news being plastered with information about terrorist attacks, hate crimes, and armed conflicts, it’s important to keep in mind that there are numerous places that can be considered the safest, most peaceful countries in the world.
The world is in a continuous flux of change, with conflicts being born everywhere, while others die down, giving the population the chance to recover and rebuild. Over the past few years, there have been a few nations that have remained among the top 50 peaceful countries in the world, while others have slipped down the ranks due to involvement in conflicts around the world and the general crime statistics of the nation.
For instance, the most peaceful country in the world in 2015 was Iceland, a country that continues to occupy a spot among the top even now. If you’re interested, you can also check out the safest countries for expats, especially if you’re planning on moving. Also, you might want to take a look at the cheapest and safest places to live in the world.
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To create our list today with the most peaceful countries in 2017 we checked out the Global Peace Index rankings since there’s no better way to tell than that. Wondering which is the most peaceful country in Asia? Well, that’s simple, as the land where Lord of the Rings was filmed can’t possibly fare badly, which makes New Zealand the top nation in the Asia-Pacific area on the peaceful score. What about Africa? Which are the most peaceful countries in Africa, you wonder? Well given the rather sensitive situation in the area, it’s actually good to see a few nations scoring quite high, such as Mauritius, Botswana, and Sierra Leone.
The Global Peace Index ranking takes into consideration multiple criteria in order to create a list. For instance, it takes a look at the level of perceived criminality in society, but also at the number of police officer per 100,000 people, and the number of homicides per 100,000 people. The ease of access to guns and the number of people in jail are also taken into consideration, alongside the intensity of organized internal conflicts and the level of violent crime, the political instability, and the political terror scale. Terrorist incidents are also weighted in, which is an important factor given the current situation in the world.
When it comes to external peace indicators for the nations on the list of the most peaceful countries in the world, the rankings take into consideration the military expenditure as a percentage of GDP, the financial contribution to UN peacekeeping missions or the number of armed services personnel per 100,000 people. The nuclear and heavy weapons capabilities also play a role, as well as the guns exports, the relations with neighboring countries and the role in external conflicts.
For example, the world’s most peaceful nation has a score of 1.111, while the least peaceful country in the world, Syria, has a score of 3.814, ranking 163rd. For those who are wondering how the United States fares, you should know that it ranks 114th, with a score of 2.232. We also went and checked multiple crime indexes on Knoema, such as homicides, assaults, burglaries, robberies, rape, and kidnapping. We added them all together and divided the number by the number of indexes they each had scores for, since they were not all present on all lists from lack of data. Finally, we added together the number we got there with the rank on the Global Peace Index list.
Without further ado, here are the top 25 safest, most peaceful countries in the world.
