Question: In the Global Peace Index- 2018 released by the London-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which of the following countries has topped?
(a) Denmark
(b) Iceland
(c) New Zealand
(d) Austria
Answer: (b)
Related Facts:
- On June 6th, 2018, ‘Global Peace Index, 2018 ‘was released by the London-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).
- This is the 12th edition of this index.
- The theme of the Global Peace Index of the year 2018 is ‘Measuring Peace in a Complex World’.
- In this index year 2018, 163 independent countries of the world have been ranked according to their level of peace.
- The GPI covers 99.7% of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace.
- The Index used three thematic domains as under:
(i) the level of Societal Safety and Security;
(ii) the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and
(iii) the degree of Militarization. - The results of the 2018 GPI find that the global level of peace has deteriorated by 0.27% in the last year, marking the fourth successive year of deteriorations.
- Ninety-two countries deteriorated, while 71 countries improved.
- The 2018 GPI reveals a world in which the tensions, conflicts, and crises that emerged in the past decade remain unresolved, especially in the Middle East, resulting in a gradual, sustained fall in peacefulness.
- Underlying the fall in peacefulness, six of the nine regions in the world deteriorated in the last year.
- The four most peaceful regions – Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, and South America – all recorded deteriorations, with the largest overall deterioration occurring in South America, owing to falls in the Safety and Security domain, mainly due to increases in the incarceration rate and impact of terrorism.
- According to the Report, due to violence in the year 2017, the global economy suffered 14.76 trillion in purchasing power parity which is 12.4% of the global GDP.
- According to the Global Peace Index (GPI), 2018, with 1.096 scores, Iceland received the top place in this index i.e. Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world.
- The following is the order of the most peaceful 4 countries after Iceland: New Zealand-2nd (Score -1.192), Austria-3rd (Score -1.274), Portugal-4th (Score -1.318), and Denmark-5th (Score -1.353).
- Syria has been ranked at the bottom at 163th position of the index with 163th position with Score 3.6. It shows that Syria is the world’s most troubled country.
- In the sequence of the most troubled 4 countries after Syria are: (162) Afghanistan (Score: 3.585), (161) South Sudan (Score: 3.508), (160) Iraq (Score: 3,425), (159) Somalia (Score- 3.367).
- In Global Peace Index-2018, India achieved 136th (Score-2.504) position in the list of 163 countries.
- It is noteworthy that last year India was at 137th position.
- In the neighboring countries of India, Bhutan is at 19th, Sri Lanka is at 67th, Nepal is at 84th and Pakistan at 151st.
- This index includes Canada 6th, Singapore 8th, Japan 9th, Germany 17th, UK 57th, France 61st and Americas 121st in other major countries of the world.
Reference:
http://economicsandpeace.org/reports/
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Global-Peace-Index-2018-2.pdf
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-peace-index-2018