Global Peace Index (GPI) 2025:
Iceland has once again secured its position as the most peaceful country in the world, as per the 2025 Global Peace Index (GPI).
Highlights of GPI 2025:
- It is the 19th edition of the GPI.
- It 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.
- 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 percent in the 1970s to nine percent in the 2010s, while conflicts that ended through peace agreements fell from 23 percent to four percent over the same period.
- This year’s results found that the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated by 0.36 percent.
- 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.
- 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.
- South America was the only region in the world to record an improvement in peacefulness last year.
- 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.
- India was ranked 115 on the GPI 2025, up one position from its 2024 spot.
- The most peaceful Asian countries were Singapore (6th), Japan (12th), Malaysia (13th), Bhutan (21st), and Mongolia (37th).
