Global Peace Index 2025 (Institute of Economics and Peace, IEP)

Written by Berhanu Anteneh

June 20, 2025

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Executive Summary:

This is the 19th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI),
which ranks 163 independent states and territories
according to their level of peacefulness, covering 99.7 per
cent of the world’s population. Produced by the Institute for
Economics & Peace (IEP), the GPI is the world’s leading
measure of global peacefulness.
This report presents the most comprehensive data-driven
analysis to date on trends in peace, its economic value, and
how to develop peaceful societies. It uses 23 qualitative and
quantitative indicators to measure the state of peace across
three domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security; the
extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and
the degree of Militarisation.
The 2025 GPI finds that global peacefulness continues to
decline and that many of the leading factors that precede
major conflicts are higher than they have been since the
end of WWII. More countries are increasing their levels of
militarisation against the backdrop of rising geopolitical
tensions, increasing conflict, the breakup of traditional
alliances and rising economic uncertainty.
There are currently 59 active state-based conflicts, the most
since the end of WWII and three more than the prior year.
Last year, 17 countries recorded over 1,000 conflict deaths.
Additionally, the successful resolution of conflicts is lower
than at any point in the last 50 years. Conflicts that ended in
a decisive victory fell from 49 per cent in the 1970s to nine
per cent in the 2010s, while conflicts that ended through
peace agreements fell from 23 per cent to four per cent
over the same period.
Conflicts are also becoming more internationalised, making
solutions more difficult; 78 countries are engaged in a
conflict beyond their borders. This increased involvement
is driven by geopolitical fragmentation, increasing major
power competition, and the rise in influence of middle level
powers, who are becoming more active within their regions.
The almost two-decade long trend of falling militarisation
has also reversed, with 106 countries having deteriorated
on the Militarisation domain in the past two years.
This year’s results found that the average level of global
peacefulness deteriorated by 0.36 per cent. This is the 13th
deterioration in peacefulness in the last 17 years, with 74
countries improving and 87 deteriorating in peacefulness.
Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a
position it has held since 2008. It is joined at the top of the
index by Ireland, Austria, New Zealand and Switzerland.
All of these countries, other than Switzerland, were also
ranked among the ten most peaceful countries in the first
year of the index. These countries have high Positive Peace
ratings, underscoring the resilience created by high levels
of Positive Peace.

Russia, for the first time, is the least peaceful country in
the world on the 2025 GPI, followed by Ukraine, Sudan,
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen.
Western and Central Europe is the most peaceful region in
the world, home to eight of the ten most peaceful countries,
although its peacefulness has been falling over the last four
years. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
remains the world’s least peaceful region.
South Asia, the second least peaceful region globally,
experienced the largest regional decline in peacefulness.
This deterioration was driven primarily by repressive
measures in Bangladesh under the Hasina government,
and by heightened civil unrest and escalating internal and
cross-border tensions in Pakistan.
South America was the only region in the world to record
an improvement in peacefulness last year. Seven of the
11 countries in the region improved, with the largest
improvements occurring in Peru and Argentina. Both
countries recorded changes in government in 2022 and
2023, respectively.
Of the 23 indicators in the GPI, eight recorded
improvements, 13 deteriorated, and two recorded no
change. The Militarisation and Ongoing Conflict domains
both deteriorated, while the Safety and Security domain
recorded a slight improvement.
The largest year-on-year deteriorations occurred on the
external conflicts fought, deaths from internal conflict,
and military expenditure (% of GDP) indicators. The
deterioration on the military expenditure (% of GDP)
indicator reflects the deterioration on the Militarisation
domain more broadly.
Despite the overall deterioration in peacefulness globally,
some indicators recorded noticeable improvement. The
perceptions of criminality and homicide rate indicators both
continued their long running trend of improvement. The
violent demonstrations indicator also improved, although
it has deteriorated for 12 of the past 17 years. There were
substantial improvements for many Safety and Security
indicators, including violent demonstrations, terrorism
impact and the homicide rate. Several countries in the
Central and North America region recorded significant
reductions in the number of homicides, although the region
still has the highest average homicide rate of any region.

The world has become less peaceful over the past 17
years, with the average country score deteriorating by 5.4
per cent since the index’s inception in 2008. Of the 163
countries in the GPI, 94 recorded deteriorations, while
66 recorded improvements and one recorded no change.
Seventeen of the 23 GPI indicators deteriorated between
2008 and 2023, while seven improved.

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