Top 10 Most Peaceful Countries in the World

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Change from 2024
1	Iceland	1.095	No change
2	Ireland	1.260	No change
3	New Zealand	1.282	↑ 2 places
4	Austria	1.294	↓ 1 place
5	Switzerland	1.294	↓ 1 place
6	Singapore	1.357	No change
7	Portugal	1.371	↑ 1 place
8	Denmark	1.393	↓ 1 place
9	Slovenia	1.409	No change
10	Finland	1.420	↑ 1 place

Key Insight: Iceland has held the position of the world’s most peaceful country since 2008, with a score gap between 1st and 2nd place equal to the gap between 2nd and 10th place.

10 Least Peaceful Countries in the World

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Change from 2024
163	Russia	3.441	↓ 2 places
162	Ukraine	3.434	↓ 3 places
161	Sudan	3.323	↑ 2 places
160	Democratic Republic of the Congo	3.292	↓ 3 places
159	Yemen	3.262	↑ 3 places
158	Afghanistan	3.229	↑ 2 places
157	Syria	3.184	↓ 1 place
156	South Sudan	3.117	↑ 2 places
155	Israel	3.108	No change
154	Mali	3.061	↓ 1 place

Key Insight: Russia has become the least peaceful country in the world for the first time in GPI history, displacing Yemen, which held that position previously.

Africa’s Most Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Mauritius	1.586	26
2	Botswana	1.743	43
3	Namibia	1.789	50
4	The Gambia	1.855	55
5	Sierra Leone	1.887	57

Key Insight: Mauritius has maintained its position as Africa’s most peaceful country for 18 consecutive years and is the only African nation with zero involvement in internal or external conflicts over the past six years.

Africa’s Least Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Sudan	3.323	161
2	Democratic Republic of the Congo	3.292	160
3	South Sudan	3.117	156
4	Mali	3.061	154
5	Burkina Faso	3.016	152

Key Insight: The Democratic Republic of the Congo recorded Africa’s largest deterioration (4.5%) in 2025 due to the M23 rebel conflict, with an estimated 7,000 people killed in early 2025 alone.

Europe’s Most Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Iceland	1.095	1
2	Ireland	1.260	2
3	Austria	1.294	4
4	Switzerland	1.294	5
5	Portugal	1.371	7

Key Insight: Iceland has held the position of the world’s most peaceful country since 2008, with a score gap between 1st and 2nd place equal to the gap between 2nd and 10th place globally.

Europe’s Least Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Russia	3.441	163
2	Ukraine	3.434	162
3	Türkiye	2.852	146
4	Belarus	2.267	119
5	Georgia	2.185	109

Key Insight: Russia became the least peaceful country in the world for the first time in GPI history, while Ukraine recorded an 8.2% deterioration, its worst ranking ever at 162nd globally.

Asia’s Most Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Singapore	1.357	6
2	Japan	1.440	12
3	Malaysia	1.469	13
4	Bhutan	1.536	21
5	Taiwan	1.730	40

Key Insight: Singapore ranks as the 6th most peaceful country globally and has a perfect score of 1.000 on the Ongoing Conflict domain.

Asia’s Least Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Afghanistan	3.229	158
2	Myanmar	3.045	153
3	North Korea	2.911	149
4	Pakistan	2.797	144
5	Bangladesh	2.318	123

Key Insight: Afghanistan has been the least peaceful country in Asia since the GPI’s inception in 2008 and holds the lowest global ranking on the Safety and Security domain.

Middle East’s Most Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Qatar	1.593	27
2	Kuwait	1.642	31
3	Oman	1.738	42
4	United Arab Emirates	1.812	52
5	Jordan	1.957	72

Key Insight: Qatar is the most peaceful country in the Middle East, and one of only three countries in the region ranked among the 50 most peaceful globally.

Middle East’s Least Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Yemen	3.262	159
2	Syria	3.184	157
3	Israel	3.108	155
4	Iraq	2.862	147
5	Palestine	2.811	145

Key Insight: The Middle East and North Africa have been the world’s least peaceful region for 10 consecutive years, with four of the global ten least peaceful countries located in this region.

North America and Central America’s Most Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Canada	1.491	14
2	Costa Rica	1.843	54
3	Dominican Republic	1.996	79
4	Panama	2.006	84
5	Trinidad and Tobago	2.020	89

Key Insight: Despite being North America’s most peaceful country, Canada recorded the region’s largest deterioration (5.8%) due to rising violent crime and tensions with the United States under new tariff policies.

North America and Central America’s Least Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Haiti	2.731	141
2	Mexico	2.636	135
3	Ecuador	2.459	129
4	United States of America	2.443	128
5	Honduras	2.347	124

Key Insight: Haiti improved by 1.5% despite remaining the region’s least peaceful country, following the establishment of a Transitional Presidential Council and UN peacekeeping support that helped curb gang violence.

South America’s Most Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Argentina	1.768	46
2	Uruguay	1.784	48
3	Chile	1.899	62
4	Paraguay	1.981	75
5	Bolivia	2.005	83

Key Insight: Argentina recorded a 3.8% improvement in peacefulness, driven by economic stabilization under President Milei’s austerity reforms that contained risks of mass protests.

South America’s Least Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Colombia	2.695	140
2	Venezuela	2.692	139
3	Brazil	2.472	130
4	Ecuador	2.459	129
5	Guyana	2.149	106

Key Insight: Colombia has been South America’s least peaceful country for five consecutive years, though it improved by 0.55% in 2025 due to pension reforms and land laws aimed at reducing inequality.

Oceania’s Most Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	New Zealand	1.282	3
2	Australia	1.505	18

Key Insight: New Zealand ranks as the 3rd most peaceful country in the world and improved by 3.1% in 2025, with significant gains on violent demonstrations and terrorism impact indicators.

Oceania’s Least Peaceful Countries

Rank	Country	GPI Score	Global Rank
1	Papua New Guinea	2.230	116
2	Timor-Leste	1.758	44

Key Insight: Papua New Guinea deteriorated by 7.5% in 2025 and ranks 116th globally, while Timor-Leste improved by 5.4% to reach its most peaceful score since joining the GPI.

Continental Comparison (Most vs Least Peaceful Gap)

Continent/Region	Most Peaceful	Score	Least Peaceful	Score	Gap
Europe	Iceland	1.095	Russia	3.441	2.346
Asia	Singapore	1.357	Afghanistan	3.229	1.872
Middle East	Qatar	1.593	Yemen	3.262	1.669
Africa	Mauritius	1.586	Sudan	3.323	1.737
North America	Canada	1.491	Haiti	2.731	1.240
South America	Argentina	1.768	Colombia	2.695	0.927
Oceania	New Zealand	1.282	Papua New Guinea	2.230	0.948

17-Year Trend – Global Peacefulness Deterioration (2008-2025)

Metric	Value
Overall deterioration in peacefulness	5.4%
Countries that became less peaceful	94
Countries that improved	66
Countries with no change	1
Years of deterioration (out of 17)	13
Consecutive years of decline (current)	6
Years since last improvement	Since 2013

Key Insight: Global peacefulness has deteriorated for 13 of the past 17 years, with no improvement recorded since 2013.

Domain Performance Changes (2008-2025)

Domain	Change Since 2008	Direction
Ongoing Conflict	17.5% deterioration	↓ Worse
Safety and Security	2.5% deterioration	↓ Worse
Militarisation	2.7% improvement	↑ Better

Key Insight: While Militarisation improved over 17 years, this trend has reversed since 2022 as countries respond to rising geopolitical tensions.

Regional Peace Rankings 2025

Rank	Region	Average GPI Score	Year-on-Year Change
1	Western and Central Europe	1.588	↓ 0.57% deterioration
2	Asia-Pacific	1.882	↓ 0.21% deterioration
3	Central and North America	2.157	↓ 0.7% deterioration
4	South America	2.180	↑ 0.59% improvement
5	Eastern Europe and Central Asia	2.213	↓ 0.77% deterioration
6	sub-Saharan Africa	2.299	↓ 0.17% deterioration
7	South Asia	2.310	↓ deterioration
8	Middle East and North Africa	2.377	↓ 0.17% deterioration

Key Insight: South America was the only region in the world to record an improvement in peacefulness in 2025, with 7 of its 11 countries improving.

Active State-Based Conflicts

Year	Number of Active State-Based Conflicts
2008	59 countries involved in external conflicts
2023	59 active state-based conflicts (highest since WWII)
2024	62+ active state-based conflicts
Countries with 1,000+ conflict deaths (2024)	17
Countries with 100+ conflict deaths (2024)	18 additional
Countries involved in external conflicts (2024)	98

Key Insight: There are now 59 active state-based conflicts worldwide, the highest number since the end of World War II, with 98 countries involved in some form of external conflict.

Conflict Death Statistics

Metric	Value
Increase in deaths from internal conflict (2008-2025)	438%
Countries with at least one conflict death (2024)	75
Deaths from conflict in 2022 (peak year)	~312,000
Deaths in Ethiopia alone (2022)	165,000+
Deaths from Ukraine, Palestine, Russia (2024)	63% of global total
Estimated deaths in Gaza conflict (as of 2025)	63,750+

Key Insight: Three-quarters of all war deaths since 1800 occurred in just World War I and World War II, with 90% happening in the ten deadliest wars.

How Conflicts End (Historical Comparison)

Conflict Ending Type	1970s	2010s	Change
Clear Victory (Government or Rebel)	49%	9%	-40 percentage points
Peace Agreement	23%	4%	-19 percentage points
Low Activity (Unresolved)	~20%	~70%	+50 percentage points
Ceasefire	Stable	Stable	No change

Key Insight: Conflicts ending in decisive victory dropped from 49% in the 1970s to just 9% in the 2010s, while unresolved “frozen conflicts” surged from 20% to 70%.

Refugee and Displacement Crisis

Metric	Value
Total forcibly displaced people worldwide (2024)	122+ million
Increase since 2008	185%
Internally displaced people (of total)	72 million
Countries where 5%+ population displaced	17
Displaced people from 4 countries (Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela)	50%+ of all refugees
Internally displaced in Gaza Strip (mid-2024)	1.7 million

Key Insight: The number of forcibly displaced people has nearly tripled since 2008, reaching over 122 million, equivalent to the 12th largest country by population.

Military Expenditure Trends

Metric	2024 Value
Global military expenditure	$2.7 trillion
Year-on-year increase	9.4% (steepest since 1988)
Military spending per capita (global)	$334
Countries that increased military spending	84
Countries that decreased military spending	50
Militarisation domain deterioration (2 years)	Yes – trend reversed

Key Insight: Global military spending hit a record $2.7 trillion in 2024 with a 9.4% increase, the steepest year-on-year rise documented since at least 1988.

Top Military Spenders by Different Metrics

By Total Spending	By % of GDP	By Per Capita
1. United States ($949B)	1. North Korea (34.4%)	1. North Korea ($9,929)
2. China ($450B)	2. Ukraine (17.1%)	2. Qatar ($5,621)
3. Russia ($352B)	3. Afghanistan (15.3%)	3. Singapore ($4,162)
4. India ($282B)	4. Algeria (9.1%)	4. Saudi Arabia ($3,984)
5. North Korea ($263B)	5. Palestinian Territories (9.1%)	5. Israel ($3,459)

Key Insight: North Korea leads both in military spending as a percentage of GDP (34.4%) and per capita spending ($9,929), despite its small economy.

Economic Impact of Violence (2024)

Category	Cost (PPP 2024 US$)	% of Total
Military Expenditure	$9.0 trillion	45%
Internal Security Expenditure	$5.7 trillion	29%
Private Security	$1.5 trillion	8%
Homicide	$1.1 trillion	6%
Suicide	$758 billion	4%
Violent Crime	$617 billion	3%
GDP Losses from Conflict	$462 billion	2%
Refugees and IDPs	$353 billion	2%
Other (incarceration, fear, conflict deaths, etc.)	$452 billion	2%
TOTAL	$19.97 trillion	100%

Key Insight: The global economic impact of violence equals $19.97 trillion, 11.6% of global GDP or $2,455 per person on Earth.

Countries Most Affected by Violence (% of GDP)

Rank	Country	Economic Cost of Violence (% of GDP)
1	Afghanistan	41.6%
2	Ukraine	40.9%
3	North Korea	39.1%
4	Syria	34.0%
5	Somalia	24.7%
6	Central African Republic	22.5%
7	Colombia	19.7%
8	Palestinian Territories	19.4%
9	Burkina Faso	19.0%
10	Cyprus	16.8%
Average (10 most affected)	27.8%
Average (10 most peaceful)	2.5%

Key Insight: The economic cost of violence for the 10 most affected countries averages 27.8% of GDP, more than 11 times higher than the 2.5% average for the 10 most peaceful countries.

Peacebuilding vs Military Spending

Year	Peacebuilding & Peacekeeping Spending	As % of Military Spending
2008	$64 billion	0.83%
2024	$47.2 billion	0.52%
Change	-26% (real terms decline)	-37% relative decline
UN Peacekeeping troops decline (10 years)	42% reduction	–

Key Insight: Spending on peacebuilding and peacekeeping has declined 26% in real terms since 2008, now representing just 0.52% of military expenditure, while conflicts have increased.

Terrorism Impact by Region

Region	Key Statistics
Sahel Region (Africa)	More terrorism deaths than South Asia and MENA combined
Burkina Faso	Highest terrorism impact in the world
Countries in top 10 for terrorism (from sub-Saharan Africa)	6 out of 10
Countries affected by terrorism (2023)	58
Countries affected by terrorism (2024)	66
Peak global terrorism deaths	2016 (~11,000 deaths)

Key Insight: The epicenter of global terrorism has shifted from the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa, with the Sahel region now experiencing more terrorism deaths than South Asia and MENA combined.

Countries with Largest Improvements (2024-2025)

Rank	Country	Score Improvement	Rank Change	Key Driver
1	Azerbaijan	5.6% improvement	↑ 17 places	End of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
2	Saudi Arabia	5.2% improvement	↑ 14 places	Diplomatic outreach, Vision 2030
3	Uganda	4.5% improvement	↑ 12 places	Reduced terrorism, conflict deaths
4	Peru	4.5% improvement	↑ 14 places	Decline in civil unrest
5	The Gambia	4.9% improvement	↑ 16 places	Improved political terror scale

Key Insight: Azerbaijan’s 5.6% improvement was driven by a 100% reduction in both internal and external conflict deaths following the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Countries with Largest Deteriorations (2024-2025)

Rank	Country	Score Deterioration	Rank Change	Key Driver
1	Bangladesh	13.2% deterioration	↓ 33 places	Mass protests, government crackdown
2	Ukraine	8.2% deterioration	↓ 3 places	Ongoing war with Russia
3	Russia	6.5% deterioration	↓ 2 places	War in Ukraine, Kursk offensive
4	DR Congo	4.4% deterioration	↓ 3 places	M23 rebel conflict
5	Myanmar	4.0% deterioration	↓ 3 places	Intensified civil war

Key Insight: Bangladesh experienced the largest deterioration of any country, dropping 33 places after internal conflict deaths surged from 12 in 2023 to 436 in 2024—a 3,500% increase.

Violent Demonstrations Trend (2008-2025)

Metric	Value
Average deterioration globally	30.4%
Countries that deteriorated	109
Countries that improved	29
Countries unchanged	23
Worst performing indicator for deterioration	Violent demonstrations
Region with largest deterioration	South Asia (107%)
Country with largest deterioration	Bangladesh

Key Insight: More countries deteriorated on violent demonstrations than any other GPI indicator over 17 years, with 109 countries experiencing increases in protest violence.

Global Homicide Rate Trends

Year	Global Average Homicide Rate (per 100,000)
2008	7.7
2025	6.0
Improvement	22% reduction
Countries with reduced homicide rates	122
Countries with rate < 1 per 100,000	40
Countries with rate < 2 per 100,000	64

Key Insight: The global average homicide rate has fallen 22% since 2008, with 122 countries recording reductions, making it one of the few consistently improving indicators.

El Salvador’s Remarkable Transformation

Year	Homicide Rate (per 100,000)	Citizens Feeling Unsafe
2008	65.4	53%
2015 (peak)	108.0	–
2021	17.3	–
2022	7.8	–
2023-2024	< 2.5	11%
Incarceration rate (2024)	Highest in the world	1%+ of population jailed

Key Insight: El Salvador’s homicide rate plummeted from 108 per 100,000 in 2015 to under 2.5 in 2024, one of the largest recorded reductions, though at the cost of having the world’s highest incarceration rate.

European Defense Challenge (Spending vs Capability)

Metric	European NATO	Russia
Military Expenditure	~4x higher	Baseline
Combined Military Capability	Only ~33% higher	Baseline
Countries increasing military spending (2024)	24	1
Key Challenge	Fragmentation, lack of integration	Single command structure

Key Insight: European NATO countries outspend Russia by nearly 4 to 1, yet their combined military capability is only about one-third higher due to fragmentation and lack of integration.

Geopolitical Fragmentation Indicators

Indicator	1970s	2023/2024	Change
Countries with significant global influence	6	34	+467%
Trade restrictive measures (annual)	~1,000	~3,000	+200%
Trade as % of GDP	40%	60% (plateaued)	Stalled since 2008
Internationalised intrastate conflicts	Baseline	+175% since 2010	Major increase
Countries in conflicts beyond borders	59 (2008)	78 (2023)	+32%

Key Insight: The number of globally influential countries has nearly tripled from 13 during the Cold War to 34 by 2023, signaling an era of “global power fragmentation.”

Nuclear Weapons Status

Country/Metric	Status
Russia (active warheads)	In thousands
United States	In thousands
China	In hundreds
France + United Kingdom (combined)	In hundreds
States with nuclear capabilities	9
Nuclear stockpile actions since 2022	All nuclear states maintained or expanded
Disarmament progress	Stagnated

Key Insight: Every nuclear-armed state has held or expanded its arsenal since 2022, with great-power rivalry fueling an arms race in advanced technologies from AI-enabled drones to counter-space systems.

Debt Crisis and Conflict Risk

Metric	Value
Global public debt (2023)	$97 trillion
Developing countries debt growth vs advanced (since 2010)	2x faster
Developing countries’ average debt servicing	42% of government revenue
Countries spending 10%+ of revenue on interest	50+
People living in countries prioritizing debt over services	3.3 billion
Sub-Saharan African countries spending 20%+ on debt servicing	80%+

Key Insight: Developing countries now spend an average of 42% of government revenue on debt servicing, often exceeding spending on education or healthcare.

Youth Unemployment and Instability

Region	Youth Unemployment Rate (2023)
Middle East and North Africa	24.5%
Global Average	~14%
Gap (MENA vs Global)	+10.5 percentage points
Regions projected for youth labor force growth through 2050	MENA, sub-Saharan Africa

Key Insight: Youth unemployment in MENA at 24.5% is nearly double the global average, creating conditions for instability in a region projected to see continued youth population growth through 2050.

Media Coverage Disparity in Conflicts

Country Income Level	Median Articles per Civilian Death
High-income countries	1,663
Upper-middle-income	~200
Lower-middle-income	~50
Low-income countries	17.4

Key Insight: Civilian deaths in high-income countries receive nearly 100 times more media coverage than equivalent deaths in low-income countries.

Conflict Coverage by Type

Conflict Type	Median Articles per Civilian Death
Interstate conflicts	~870
Intrastate conflicts	~37
Internationalised intrastate	~18

Key Insight: Interstate conflicts receive 23 times more media coverage per civilian death than internationalised intrastate conflicts, despite the latter being far more common.

Countries with Least vs Most Conflict Coverage

Least Coverage (Articles per Death)	Most Coverage (Articles per Death)
Burkina Faso: 0.6	Russia: 14,269
Ethiopia: 0.7	Azerbaijan: 3,742
Mali: 1.0	Lebanon: 2,372
Cameroon: 1.9	Israel: 1,663
Haiti: 2.6	Iran: 1,647

Key Insight: Russia’s conflict receives over 23,000 times more media coverage per civilian death than Burkina Faso’s conflict, despite both experiencing significant violence.

Nine Conflict Escalation Factors

Factor	Description	Example Conflicts
Urban origin onset	Conflict starts in/near capital, threatens regime	Sudan, South Sudan, Syria
Accessible terrain	Open terrain enables conventional warfare	Russia-Ukraine, Sudan
High logistical supply	Sustained supply enables prolonged high-intensity	Syria, Russia-Ukraine
Non-state actor heavy weapons	Rebels with artillery, aircraft capabilities	Tigray, Yemen, Syria
Significant external support	Foreign arms, troops, intelligence, safe haven	Yemen, Sudan, Syria
Private military contractors	Professional mercenary forces involved	Mali, Iraq, Syria
High ethnic exclusion	Dominant ethnic group excludes others	Myanmar, South Sudan
Fratricidal coercion	Execution of deserters, blocking detachments	Russia-Ukraine, Syria
Conflict instrumentalisation	Overlay of nationalist/ideological narratives	Darfur, Eastern DRC, Mali

Key Insight: All 62 current state-based conflict dyads analyzed have at least one escalation factor scoring 3 or higher, indicating significant risk of intensification.

High-Risk Escalation Hotspots (2025)

Conflict	Escalation Factors Present	Key Risk
Democratic Republic of Congo	5 high-scoring factors	M23 rebel advance, Rwandan involvement
South Sudan	5 high-scoring factors	Peace agreement collapse
Syria	5 high-scoring factors	Post-Assad fragmentation
Ethiopia-Eritrea	4 high-scoring factors	Red Sea access dispute
Kashmir (India-Pakistan)	4 high-scoring factors	Nuclear-armed rivals, April 2025 attack

Key Insight: The April 2025 terror attack in Kashmir sparked reprisals and halted dialogue, bringing nuclear-armed India and Pakistan closer to open war than at any point in recent years.

2025 GPI Indicator Changes Summary

Direction	Number of Indicators
Improved	8
Deteriorated	13
No change	2
Total	23

Largest Deteriorations	Largest Improvements
External conflicts fought	Perceptions of criminality
Deaths from internal conflict	Political terror scale
Military expenditure (% GDP)	Violent demonstrations
Weapons imports	Homicide rate

Key Insight: Thirteen of 23 GPI indicators deteriorated in 2025, with external conflicts fought showing the largest decline as more countries become involved in overseas military operations.

References

DataGlobeHub makes use of the best available data sources to support each publication. We prioritize sources of good reputation, like government sources, authoritative sources, expert sources, and well-researched publications. When citing our sources, we provide the report title followed by the publication name. Where not applicable, we provide just the publication name.

Global Peace Index – Vision of Humanity
War and Peace – Our World in Data