Iceland Again World’s Most Peaceful Country

Iceland is once again at the top of the Global Peace Index, as the world overall during the past 10 years has become more violent.

According to the findings of the Institute for Economics and Peace, Iceland is the most peaceful country of the 163 countries surveyed for the index. Iceland has, in fact, been at the top of the list since 2011.

When taking a closer look at the indicators, Iceland scored below 2 out of a possible 5 points for each indicator, and only exceeded this in three areas: Perceptions of criminality (2/5), Security officers & police (2/5) and Weapons imports (3.1/5).

The comparatively high score on this last indicator is most likely due to attempts made to import some 150 machine guns for the Icelandic police – an idea that ultimately did not go through.

On a global scale, the GPI has measured a “less peaceful and more unequal” world.

“Results also show a growing global inequality in peace, with the most peaceful countries continuing to improve while the least peaceful are falling into greater violence and conflict,” their summary reads in part. “It shows that amidst the global deterioration the world continues to spend enormous resources on creating and containing violence but very little on peace.”