The Geography of Peace: Global Peace Index

Kenya improved its ranking in the Global Peace Index by 9 positions over last year coming in at position 111/153. Tanzania, which has consistently ranked as the most peaceful nation in the region is at position 56/153, Uganda came in at 96 while Somalia was ranked at the bottom as the least peaceful nation in the world (153/153).

The Atlantic's Richard Florida has a great piece on this, going on to compare the GPI rankings to a range of other social, economic and demographic factors. You can read it here

The map below charts the Global Peace Index (GPI) scores for 153 countries worldwide. The GPI is based on 25 separate indicators of internal and external conflict, including wars and external conflicts, deaths from external conflicts, militarization, weapons exports, homicides, access to weapons, violent political demonstrations, prison populations, and police presence. 

 

The Ten most peaceful nations in the world are:

RANK	COUNTRY	SCORE
1	Iceland	1.148
2	New Zealand	1.279
3	Japan	1.287
4	Denmark	1.289
5	Czech Republic	1.320
6	Austria	1.337
7	Finland	1.352
8	Canada	1.355
9	Norway	1.356
10	Slovenia	1.358

Also, here are the rankings of a few nations in the region that I'm sure some of you would like to know.

Kenya     111/153
Ethiopia  131/153
Uganda   096/153
Tanzania 056/153
Eritrea    104/153
Somalia  153/153
Rwanda  099/153

In summary, Western Europe is the most peaceful region in the world while Sub-Saharan Africa is the least peaceful. Generally speaking, affluence and peace are closely correlated which explains why rich Nordic countries consistently rank as the most peaceful, most equal and happiest in the world.

To play around with interactive map,  go here.