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The Most And Least Peaceful Countries Worldwide 2018

.Detective.

.Detective.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,679
The 12th annual "Global Peace Index" has been released by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an international and independent non-profit think tank. The index reveals that the world is less peaceful today than at any time in the past decade with 92 countries seeing their scores deteriorate and 71 improving. Tensions, conflicts and crises that emerged in the last ten years remain unresolved with escalation in conflicts, a rise in political terror and reduced commitments to UN peacekeeping all unhinging global peace.

Levels of peace are determined across a five-point scale through three filters - safety and security in society, ongoing domestic or international conflict and the degree of militarization. Iceland was ranked the most peaceful country worldwide in 2018, followed by New Zealand and Austria. War-ravaged Syria is at the opposite end of the scale, along with Afghanistan and South Sudan. The United States only ranks 121st out of 163 countries in the index, having seen its score decline for two consecutive years. It's score now stands at its worst level since 2012.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallm...countries-worldwide-infographic/#15cfeab03d0b

Some interesting notes:

- Iceland has held the No. 1 rank since 2008. Bravo
- Fuck yeah, Canada comfortably within Top 10 in another positive global index, and only 0.019 away from the Top 5
- Japan(No. 9) and Canada(No. 6) are the two largest nations within the highest bracket of peace rating
- Over the last decade, the GDP growth of countries that improved in peace was seven times higher than that of countries that deteriorated in peace.
- Military expenditure as a portion of GDP has been falling in more countries than increasing
- For the first time in modern history, refugees made up almost 1 per cent of the global population in 2017 – greater than the population of the UK or nearly half the population of Russia.
- Other large nation ranks: Australia(13), Sweden(14), Finland(15), Norway(16), Germany(17), Netherlands(23), Spain(30), South Korea(49), UK(57), France(61), Brazil(106), China(112), USA(121), Russia(154)

If you wish to see the infographic with year over year ratings, use this:

http://visionofhumanity.org/indexes/global-peace-index/

If you wish to see the full rankings of all 163 countries, you can access the pdf of the report here(on slides 10 + 11 of the 100 page report:

http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2018/06/Global-Peace-Index-2018-2.pdf

Overall Rankings(courtest of user MikeHattsu):

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ncsoft

ncsoft

Member
Dec 11, 2017
713
First time that I remember this ranking actually ranking China above the US, usually US is ranked above China, I always found that quite absurd.
 
KillLaCam

KillLaCam

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,388
Seoul
Japan kinda surprises me that its so close to Singapore and the Czech Republic because of how its been becoming more nationalistic again and is rebuilding its military. But it is true that most countries aren't as safe as Japan so I guess it balances it out.

The difference between Canada and the US is always hilarious though
 
OP
OP
.Detective.

.Detective.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,679
hateradio said:
You didn't actually put anything in the spoiler for Top/Bottom 10.

US is always disappointing to see. We could do so much better.
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Maybe check your browser settings, friend. There is an infographic showing the Top 10/Bottom 10 within the spoiler, wrapped in the code.

Here, try this:

https://blogs-images.forbes.com/niallmccarthy/files/2018/06/20180606_Peace.jpg
 
Theodran

Theodran

Member
Oct 25, 2017
927
Japan
I moved from the most peaceful country to the 9th most peaceful... still, I feel more comfortable and don't need to rely on a car, so I guess it was a good trade-off.
 
tabris

tabris

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,236
ncsoft said:
First time that I remember this ranking actually ranking China above the US, usually US is ranked above China, I always found that quite absurd.
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How so? China is quite safe to live in and hasn't been in any direct conflicts for a while except some border conflicts with India. Also been agreesive in South China Sea but no direct conflict out of that.

USA has been involved in most major conflicts over the world in last 2 decades, perpetuating several. It also has a very poor personal safety index.
 
Rommaz

Rommaz

Member
Nov 27, 2017
6,267
Kitwe, Zambia.
My country just made the top 50 but is down by 7 places from last year.

Makes sense since political violence , gang violence and Ritualistic killings seem to be at their highest levels in recent years.
 
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,199
How does Canada beat out Japan.

I guess NK missiles flying overhead :think:
 
Avitus

Avitus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,919
I don't see the point in measuring the degree of militarization because a military hegemony provides relative peace aka the superpower results in more net peace.
 
bricewgilbert

bricewgilbert

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
868
WA, USA
Avitus said:
I don't see the point in measuring the degree of militarization because a military hegemony provides relative peace aka the superpower results in more net peace.
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So all the countries that are fucked up because of the ass hole super power who gets to keep war away get docked twiced essentially? In the case of the US it's not even really true that our militerism has stayed overseas.
 
KimiNewt

KimiNewt

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,749
Avitus said:
I don't see the point in measuring the degree of militarization because a military hegemony provides relative peace aka the superpower results in more net peace.
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I don't think this is about how peaceful life is for the average citizen, because in that case obviously you're right. It's more about how occupied the country is with the military and violence.
 
cupcakeunicorn

cupcakeunicorn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,350
KillLaCam said:
Japan kinda surprises me that its so close to Singapore and the Czech Republic because of how its been becoming more nationalistic again and is rebuilding its military. But it is true that most countries aren't as safe as Japan so I guess it balances it out.
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Japan is starting to invest more in its military, yes, but it's probably too soon for that to have much of an effect on their ranking. I'd expect them to drop if they actually start using their military for anything though.

And in percentage terms, their increased spending isn't that outrageous anyway - Japan has always had a large military budget.
 
OP
OP
.Detective.

.Detective.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,679
The negative peace aspect is explained in further detail in the Appendix A on page 78 of the report, but here is a small snippet:

The GPI measures a country's level of Negative Peace using three domains of peacefulness. The first domain,Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict, investigates the extent to which countries are involved in internal and external conflicts, as well as their role and duration of involvement in conflicts.

The second domain evaluates the level of harmony or discord within a nation; ten indicators broadly assess what might be described as Societal Safety and Security. The assertion is that low crime rates, minimal terrorist activity and violent demonstrations, harmonious relations with neighbouring countries, a stable political scene and a small proportion of the population being internally displaced or made refugees can be equated with peacefulness.

Seven further indicators are related to a country's Militarisation — reflecting the link between a country's level of military build-up and access to weapons and its level of peacefulness, both domestically and internationally. Comparable data on military
expenditure as a percentage of GDP and the number of armed service officers per head are gauged, as are financial contributionsto UN peacekeeping mission.
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MikeHattsu said:
Here ya go
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Thank you, I have added your images to the OP.
 
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DorkLord54

DorkLord54

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,466
Michigan
KimiNewt said:
I don't think this is about how peaceful life is for the average citizen, because in that case obviously you're right. It's more about how occupied the country is with the military and violence.
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Pretty much. I'm pretty sure it's why the UK and France are so high relatively speaking, as the safety for your average citizen in those countries is high, but they have nukes and are regularly involved in foreign conflicts.
 
tuxfool

tuxfool

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,858
FZZ said:
Pakistan below NK?

lmao
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That makes sense. NK hasn't been involved direct military conflicts for a while. So while they may be bellicose, their bark is a lot louder than their bite. Both are nuclear powers.

Pakistan is in a dangerously unstable part of the world, and has for a while been skirmishing over with India.
 
OP
OP
.Detective.

.Detective.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,679
DorkLord54 said:
Pretty much. I'm pretty sure it's why the UK and France are so high relatively speaking, as the safety for your average citizen in those countries is high, but they have nukes and are regularly involved in foreign conflicts.
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Actually the level of peacefulness of life(i.e. acceptance of others, low corruption, well functioning government) for the average citizen is considered. It falls under the positive peace aspect of the rating system by the Global Peace Index, whereas the military and violence aspect falls under the Negative Peace portion, which when graded overall, gives the country their score.
 

Vault

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,618
Has Iceland ever fought in any anything other then the Cod War?
 
N.Domixis

N.Domixis

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
9,208
Wow, US looks like a first world country but behaves like a third world country it's soooo low.
 
Ja-

Ja-

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
1,029
I don't know much about Turkey, how come its so low? Even palestine is above it
 
DorkLord54

DorkLord54

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,466
Michigan
Ja- said:
I don't know much about Turkey, how come its so low? Even palestine is above it
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A long-standing conflict with its Kurdish citizens in the south, its involvement in various conflicts in the region, terrorism from Kurds and Islamists, and ever-increasing slide towards authoritarianism under Erdogan, I assume.
 
WorldofMiku

WorldofMiku

attempted ban circumvention by using an alt
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
824
Nigeria is next to North Korea. The last orange. The chart's BS.

EDIT: Oh wait, I was looking at 2017. 2018, the country is now red and closer to NK in points.
 
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