India has been ranked 135th in the Global Peace Index 2011 released on Wednesday. India ranks below countries like Myanmar (133), Nepal (95) and Bangladesh (83). It, of course, is better placed than Pakistan (146), Russia (147), Afghanistan (150), Iraq (152) and Somalia (153).
The GPI is one of the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. It gauges ongoing domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and militarisation in 153 countries by taking into account 23 separate indicators.
One look at India's peace indicators (1 is best, 5 is worst):
- Number of external and internal conflicts fought: 5
- Estimated number of deaths from organised conflict (external): 2
- Number of deaths from organised conflict (internal): 3
- Level of organized conflict (internal): 3
- Relations with neighbouring countries: 4
- Level of perceived criminality in society: 4
- Number of displaced people as a percentage of the population: 1
- Political instability: 1.25
- Level of disrespect for human rights: 4
- Potential for terriorist acts: 4
- Number of homicides per 100,000 people: 2
- Level of violent crime: 3
- Likelihood of violent demonstrations: 3
- Number of jailed population per 100,000 people: 1
- Number of internal security officers and police 100,000 people: 1
- Military expenditure as a percentage of GDP: 1.5
- Number of armed services personnel per 100,000 people: 1
- Exports of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people: 1
- Imports of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people: 1
- Funding for UN peacekeeping missions: 1
- Aggregate weighted number of heavy weapons per 100,000 people: 1
- Ease of access to small arms and light weapons: 4
- Military capability/sophistication: 4
This is the third consecutive year that the GPI, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), has shown a decline in the levels of world peace. The economic cost of this to the global economy was $8.12 trillion in the past year. The threat of terrorist attacks and the likelihood of violent demonstrations were the two leading factors making the world less peaceful in 2011.
The 2011 Index dramatically reflects the impact on national rankings of the Arab Spring. Libya (143) saw the most significant drop – falling 83 places; Bahrain (123) dropped by 51 places – the second largest margin; while Egypt (73) dropped 24 places. Unrest caused by economic instability also led to falls in levels of peacefulness in Greece (65), Italy (45), Spain (28), Portugal (17) and Ireland (11).
Other highlights:
- If the world had been 25% more peaceful over the past year the global economy would have reaped an additional economic benefit of just over US$2 trillion. This amount would pay for the 2% of global GDP per annum investment estimated by the Stern Review to avoid the worst effects of climate change, cover the cost of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, eliminate the public debt of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, and address the one-off rebuilding costs of the most expensive natural disaster in history – the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
- Iceland is the world’s most peaceful nation, followed by New Zealand, Japan, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Iraq (152) moved from the bottom of the Index for the first time ever.
- Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region least at peace, containing 40% of the world’s least peaceful countries, Sudan (151) and Somalia (153) at the bottom of the Index.
- For the fifth consecutive year, Western Europe is the most peaceful region with the majority of countries ranking in the top 20. Four Nordic countries are ranked in the top ten; however, Sweden drops to number 13 because of its arms-manufacturing industry and the volume of exports of conventional weapons. Joining the European Union has had a positive impact on the relevant members of Central and Eastern Europe with the Czech Republic moving into the top ten (5th place) for the first time and Slovenia rising to 10th position.
- North America demonstrated a slight improvement since last year. Canada (8) jumped 6 places in this year’s rankings whereas the US's (82) overall score remained unchanged although its ranking improved from 85th to 82nd.
From the factsheet:
Iceland has made progress since the global financial crisis and is again ranked as the country most at peace, replacing New Zealand which was the most peaceful country in the two years prior. Other notable developments included Libya incurring the largest year-to-year fall in the five year history of the Global Peace Index, falling 83 ranks to 143rd, while Malaysia became the first south-east Asian nation to enter the top 20, improving its position to 19th.
- Despite the “war on terror” twenty-nine nations (particularly in Africa, the Middle East and Europe) experienced a rise in their potential for terrorist acts making this the most significant negative influence on the GPI this year.
- In thirty-three nations, the likelihood for violent demonstrations increased. Violent crime and the number of internal security officers and police per 100,000 people also recorded increases in several nations.
- The indicator that is the most improved and that had the most positive impact on peace at the global level is military expenditure as a percent of GDP. Relations with neighbouring countries also recoded an improvement in several countries, especially in Eastern Europe.
- The global decline in peace was mostly due to the Middle East and North African nations, followed by declines in peace in Western Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Conversely, North America and Asia experienced minor increases in peace.
- The largest worsening of a single GPI indicator in a region was political instability in the Middle East and North Africa, while the largest improvement was military expenditure as a percentage of GDP in Asia.
