July/August 2008 Peace Makers
Peace Grows Slightly Worldwide

Most countries in the world are performing better against key measures of peacefulness compared with last year, according to the latest rankings of the Global Peace Index (GPI).

This year the index has been expanded to rank 140 countries - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - according to how peaceful they act, both domestically and internationally. The GPI uses 24 indicators of external and internal measures of peace, including UN deployments overseas and levels of violent crime.

According to Steve Killelea, founder of the GPI, "The world appears to be a marginally more peaceful place this year. This is encouraging, but it takes small steps by individual countries for the world to make greater strides on the road to peace."

Most peaceful country: Iceland
Least peaceful country: Iraq
Big risers on peace scale: Angola, Indonesia and India
U.S. peace ranking: 97

Iceland, making its first appearance in the index, tops the rankings. Countries in Scandinavia have emerged among the most peaceful countries on the planet with Denmark (2) and Norway (3) scoring very highly. New Zealand (4) and Japan (5) complete the highest ranked. The United States held virtually steady at 97, dropping one slot from last year's rank of 96.

Based on a direct comparison of the 121 countries measured in 2007 to 2008, a majority of peace indicators have shown slight improvements. On average, scores for level of organized conflict (internal) and violent crime, political instability and potential for terrorist acts have all improved marginally. In contrast, the world's armed services have grown on average per country, as has the sophistication of its weaponry.

Other key findings include:

  • Small, stable and democratic countries are the most peaceful - 16 of the top 20 are western or central European democracies.
  • The Group of Eight countries (G8) fared very differently: Japan (5), Canada (11), Germany (14), Italy (28), France (36), United Kingdom (49), United States (97), Russia (131).
  • Iraq is the lowest ranked country on the index (140).

One of the key findings of the GPI is that there is a strong relationship between peace, business and national wealth.

The GPI introduced the concept of the "peace industry," which are industries and companies that prosper in peace and are adversely affected by escalating levels of violence. These industries include insurance, retail, financial services, tourism and commercial aviation. Killelea believes that when industries realize that creating global peace is in their shareholders' best interest, they will become a powerful force for positive change.

"You ultimately can't have business where you have conflict. So, it is in the nature of self-interest to promote the kind of circumstances and the kind of environment where you can carry out your business when there is peace," says Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a supporter of the GPI.

Source: Vision of Humanity at www.visionofhumanity.com.