2012 Global Peace Index: World Becomes Slightly More Peaceful in the Last Year-Reversing Two-Year Trend
Nations Improve External Peace-Seeking to Project Economic Power More Than Military - Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time not the least peaceful region - Economic benefit to global economy estimated at US$9 trillion if world had been completely peaceful - Iceland is the country most at peace for the second successive year - Syria tumbles by largest margin dropping over 30 places to 147th position - Somalia remains world's least peaceful nation for second year running
(firmenpresse) - LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwire) -- 06/12/12 -- Improvements in the Political Terror
Scale(1) and gains in several indicators of militarisation(2) arising from
austerity-driven defence cuts were the two leading factors making the world
more peaceful in 2012, according to the latest Global Peace Index (GPI)
released today. This reverses two consecutive years where the GPI has shown
a decline in global peace. If the world had been completely peaceful, the
economic benefit to the global economy would have been an estimated US$9
trillion in the past year (equal to the size of the German and Japanese
economies combined.)
The GPI is the world's leading measure of global peacefulness produced by
the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). It gauges on-going domestic
and international conflict, safety and security in society, and
militarisation in 158 countries by taking into account 23 separate
indicators.
All regions apart from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) saw an
improvement, with Sub-Saharan Africa lifting off of the bottom spot for the
first time since the GPI was launched in 2007. Madagascar, Gabon and
Botswana experienced notable improvements over the past year and the region
also shows the largest improvement in 'Relations with Neighbouring States'
from 2009 to 2012.
Through its decline in peacefulness the Middle East and North Africa is now
the least peaceful region globally. The drop largely reflects the upheaval
and instability driven by the Arab Spring. Indeed the five indicators that
deteriorated the most across the GPI last year were measures of safety and
security in society, and appear to reflect turbulence that has shaken the
Arab world since December 2010. Syria's descent into civil war caused it to
fall by the largest margin, followed by post-revolution Egypt and Tunisia
respectively.
"What comes across dramatically in this year's results and the six year
trends is a shift in global priorities. Nations have become externally more
peaceful as they compete through economic, rather than military means. The
results for Sub Saharan Africa as a whole are particularly striking --
regional wars have waned as the African Union strives to develop economic
and political integration." said Steve Killelea, founder and Executive
Chairman of the IEP. "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."
The trend data also show a substantial gap in peacefulness between
democracies and other government types. Flawed democracies perform
substantially better than hybrid and authoritarian regimes which suggest
that measures of government repression, such as the 'Political Terror
Scale' and the 'Level of Internally Organised Conflict', are close
predictors of peacefulness.
Killelea continued: "The six year trend analysis shows that countries in
the top and bottom of the Index rarely move out - suggesting peace is
'sticky' at both ends. There is also a notable 'tipping point' after which
relatively small gains in peacefulness seem to be associated with large
falls in corruption and large increases in GDP per capita. As countries
look to develop policy-makers would do well take note of the Peace Dividend
and review the frameworks that deliver the most peaceful societies."
OTHER REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
The Asia Pacific region's overall score improved by the largest extent from
last year and included three of the top five risers. Sri Lanka experienced
the greatest improvement in its overall peacefulness following the ending
of its civil war. Bhutan showed robust gains to enter the top 20 for the
first time mainly as tensions eased surrounding ethnic-Nepali refugees. The
Philippines also showed a robust rise across a number of indicators.
For the sixth consecutive year, Western Europe remains markedly the most
peaceful region with the majority of countries ranking in the top 20. While
Norway dropped out of the top 10 for the first time to 18th position, three
Nordic countries stay ranked in the top 10, with high levels of safety and
security indicating broadly harmonious societies free from conflict.
North America experienced a slight improvement, continuing a trend since
2007. Canada jumped three places in this year's rankings as a result of
fewer casualties among its troops stationed in Afghanistan. The United
States' overall score also improved slightly thanks to reductions in the
percentage of jailed population, although it slipped a number of places as
a result of larger gains made by other countries.
Latin America also experienced an overall gain in peacefulness, with 16 of
the 23 nations seeing improvements to their GPI scores.
NOTES TO EDITORS
GPI report, video, and interactive maps are available at
.
Follow:!/GlobPeaceIndex
Visit:
About the Institute for Economics & Peace
The Institute for Economics & Peace is an international non-profit research
organization dedicated to shifting the world's focus to peace as a
positive, achievable, and tangible measure of human well-being and
progress.
In 2012 five new countries (Benin, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho and
Mauritius) were added to the index, bringing the total to 158 nations
covering 99% of the world's population.
For more information: .
(1) The political terror scale measures levels of political violence and
terror.
(2) Six of the world's top military spenders (Brazil, France, Germany,
India, UK and the US) all cut their defence budgets in 2011.
To view the social media release related to this press release, please
visit the following link:
Contacts
Global: Hill + Knowlton Strategies:
Global: Hill + Knowlton Strategies
Rob Foyle
+44 20 7413 3512
Global: Hill + Knowlton Strategies
Rima Sacre
+44 20 7973 4427
US: Edelman
Craig Brownstein
+1 202 326 1799
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Datum: 12.06.2012 - 04:32 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
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