The world has become more peaceful for the first time since 2009 according to the annual Global Peace Index (GPI) released today. Austerity-driven defence cuts creating gains in several indicators of militarisation and improvements in the Political Terror Scale have lead to changes in the annual rankings.

Published by the Institute for Economics & Peace, the index tries to measure peacefulness. This year has seen the world become 'slightly more peaceful' - bucking the trend seen in the last two years where the ranking showed a decline in global peace.

Iceland is once again ranked the most peaceful peaceful country in the world, followed by Denmark and New Zealand. Syria has seen the biggest drop in margin, falling over 30 places to be placed at 147th. The UK has fallen three places to 29th position, meaning it is the first year the UK placement has not risen in the list.

The top 5 fallers are Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman and Malawi. The Middle East is now amongst one of the least peaceful regions in the world, with the drop in rankings for the Arab countries refelecting the turbulence and instability created by the events of the Arab Spring.

Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bhutan, Guyana and the Philippines are the top 5 risers on the GPI 2012. Including three of the top five risers, Asia Pacific region's overall score improved by the greatest extent from 2011. Steve Killilea of the IEP says:

Peacefulness has returned to approximately the levels seen in 2007, but while

external measures of peacefulness have improved, there has been a rise in internal conflict. This is particularly noticeable in the rise in fatalities from terrorist acts which have more than trebled since 2003.

Now in it's sixth year, the GPI is made up of 23 indicators and ranks 158 countries. It gages the level of safety and security in society and also looks at the extent of domestic or international conflict.

The indicators range from a nation's level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights. The index has been tested against a range of potential "drivers" or determinants of peace—including levels of democracy and transparency, education and national wellbeing.

So what does the 2012 rankings show us? Below are some of the findings:

• Somalia is the least peaceful country at 158th position and with a score of 3.392. Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo make up the bottom five

• There has been change for the the indicators as well. The top three largest improvements have been for the Political Terror Scale, terrorist acts and military expenditure as a % of GDP

• Iceland has remained at the top spot as most peaceful country in the world, after dropping in the rankings in 2009 and 2010 because of violent demonstrations linked to the collapse of its financial system

• Sub-saharan Africa is no longer the least peaceful region in the world, for the first time since the GPI began



The index also finds the monetary value of peace: they estimate that if the world had been completely peaceful in 2011, the additional economic impact would have been an estimated $9tn - equal to the size of Germany and Japan's economies combined.

We have the data going back to 2007 below. It's one of a number of indicators available, such as Transparency International's Corruption Index which collectively build up a qualitative picture of the world we live in.

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Data summary

Global Peace Index 2012 compared Click heading to sort table. Download this data Country 2012 GPI rank 2011 GPI rank 2010 GPI rank 2009 GPI rank 2008 GPI rank 2007 GPI rank Iceland 1 1 2 4 1 Denmark 2 4 7 2 2 3 New Zealand 2 2 1 1 4 2 Canada 4 8 14 8 11 8 Japan 5 3 3 7 5 5 Austria 6 6 4 5 10 10 Ireland 6 11 6 12 6 4 Slovenia 8 10 11 10 16 15 Finland 9 7 9 9 8 6 Switzerland 10 16 18 18 12 14 Belgium 11 14 17 15 15 11 Qatar 12 12 15 17 33 30 Czech Republic 13 5 12 11 17 13 Sweden 14 13 10 6 13 7 Germany 15 15 16 16 14 12 Portugal 16 17 13 14 7 9 Hungary 17 20 20 27 18 18 Norway 18 9 5 2 3 1 Bhutan 19 34 36 40 26 19 Malaysia 20 19 22 26 38 37 Mauritius 21 Australia 22 18 19 19 27 25 Singapore 23 24 30 23 29 29 Poland 24 22 29 32 31 27 Spain 25 28 25 28 30 21 Slovakia 26 23 21 24 20 17 Taiwan 27 27 35 37 44 36 Netherlands 28 25 27 22 22 20 United Kingdom 29 26 31 35 49 49 Chile 30 38 28 20 19 16 Botswana 31 35 33 34 46 42 Romania 32 40 45 31 24 26 Uruguay 33 21 24 25 21 24 Vietnam 34 30 38 39 37 35 Croatia 35 37 41 49 60 67 Costa Rica 36 31 26 29 34 31 Laos 37 32 34 45 51 Italy 38 45 40 36 28 33 Bulgaria 39 53 50 56 57 54 France 40 36 32 30 36 34 Estonia 41 47 46 38 35 28 Korea, South 42 50 43 33 32 32 Lithuania 43 43 42 43 41 43 Argentina 44 55 71 66 56 52 Latvia 45 46 54 54 39 47 United Arab Emirates 46 33 44 41 42 38 Kuwait 47 29 39 42 45 46 Mozambique 48 48 47 53 50 50 Namibia 49 54 59 65 77 64 Ghana 50 42 48 52 40 40 Zambia 51 52 51 58 53 53 Sierra Leone 52 61 53 Lesotho 53 Morocco 54 58 58 63 63 48 Tanzania 55 56 55 59 58 57 Burkina Faso 56 51 57 71 81 Djibouti 56 Mongolia 58 57 92 89 88 Oman 59 41 23 21 25 22 Malawi 60 39 52 47 73 68 Panama 61 49 61 59 48 45 Jordan 62 64 68 64 65 63 Indonesia 63 68 67 67 68 78 Serbia 64 84 90 78 85 84 Bosnia and Herzegovina 65 60 60 50 66 75 Albania 66 63 65 76 79 Moldova 66 59 66 75 83 72 Macedonia 68 78 84 88 87 82 Guyana 69 88 91 97 Cuba 70 67 72 68 62 59 Ukraine 71 69 97 82 84 80 Tunisia 72 44 37 44 47 39 Cyprus 73 71 76 48 52 51 Gambia 74 62 Gabon 75 81 74 51 55 56 Paraguay 76 66 78 73 70 55 Greece 77 65 62 57 54 44 Senegal 78 77 79 80 71 65 Peru 79 85 89 79 80 70 Nepal 80 95 82 77 Montenegro 81 89 88 91 Nicaragua 81 72 64 61 59 66 Brazil 83 74 83 85 90 83 Bolivia 84 76 81 81 78 69 Ecuador 85 90 101 109 100 87 Swaziland 85 70 73 Equatorial Guinea 87 75 69 61 64 71 United States 88 82 85 83 97 96 China 89 80 80 74 67 60 Dominican Republic 90 91 93 70 82 74 Bangladesh 91 83 87 90 86 86 Guinea 92 92 Papua New Guinea 93 94 95 93 95 88 Trinidad and Tobago 94 79 94 87 98 94 Angola 95 87 86 100 110 112 Guinea-Bissau 95 Cameroon 97 86 106 95 92 76 Uganda 98 96 100 103 114 104 Tajikistan 99 103 Madagascar 99 105 77 72 43 41 Liberia 101 97 99 Mali 102 100 109 96 99 Sri Lanka 103 126 133 125 125 111 Congo 104 98 102 106 117 Kazakhstan 105 93 95 84 72 61 Saudi Arabia 106 101 108 104 108 90 Haiti 107 113 114 116 109 Cambodia 108 115 111 105 91 85 Belarus 109 112 105 98 94 Uzbekistan 110 109 110 106 111 110 Egypt 111 73 49 54 69 73 El Salvador 111 102 103 94 89 89 Jamaica 113 106 98 102 96 81 Benin 114 Armenia 115 109 113 Niger 116 119 Turkmenistan 117 108 117 101 102 Bahrain 118 123 70 69 74 62 Rwanda 119 99 75 86 76 Kenya 120 111 120 113 119 91 Algeria 121 129 116 110 112 107 Eritrea 122 104 Venezuela 123 124 122 120 123 102 Guatemala 124 125 112 111 103 93 Mauritania 125 130 123 124 120 Thailand 126 107 124 118 118 105 South Africa 127 118 121 123 116 99 Iran 128 119 104 99 105 97 Honduras 129 117 125 112 104 98 Turkey 130 127 126 121 115 92 Kyrgyzstan 131 114 Azerbaijan 132 122 119 115 101 101 Philippines 133 136 130 114 113 100 Cote d' Ivoire 134 128 118 117 122 113 Mexico 135 121 107 108 93 79 Lebanon 136 137 134 132 132 114 Ethiopia 137 131 127 128 121 103 Burundi 138 132 131 127 Myanmar 139 133 132 126 126 108 Zimbabwe 140 140 135 135 124 106 Georgia 141 134 142 134 India 142 135 128 122 107 109 Yemen 143 138 129 119 106 95 Colombia 144 139 138 130 130 116 Chad 145 141 141 138 135 Nigeria 146 142 137 129 129 117 Libya 147 143 56 46 61 58 Syria 147 116 115 92 75 77 Pakistan 149 146 145 137 127 115 Israel 150 145 144 141 136 119 Central African Republic 151 144 136 133 134 Korea, North 152 149 139 131 133 Russia 153 147 143 136 131 118 Congo, Democratic Republic of 154 148 140 139 128 Iraq 155 152 149 144 140 121 Sudan 156 151 146 140 138 120 Afghanistan 157 150 147 143 137 Somalia 158 153 148 142 139

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