Concept
Global Peace Index (GPI) is a report produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) which measures the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories (collectively accounting for 99.7 per cent of the world's population) according to their levels of peacefulness. In the past decade, the GPI has presented trends of increased global violence and less peacefulness. The GPI is developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks with data collected and collated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Index was first launched in May 2009, with subsequent reports being released annually. In 2015 it ranked 165 countries, up from 121 in 2007. The study was conceived by Australian technology entrepreneur Steve Killelea, and is endorsed by individuals such as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, archbishop Desmond Tutu, former President of Finland and 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, economist Jeffrey Sachs, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Jan Eliasson and former United States president Jimmy Carter. The updated index is released each year at events in London, Washington, DC, and at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. The 2023 GPI indicates Iceland, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and Austria to be the most peaceful countries, and Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and Democratic Republic of the Congo to be the least peaceful. The key findings of the 2023 GPI include a less peaceful world over the last 15 years, a 5 per cent deterioration in the global level of peace over the last 15 years and a growing inequality in peace between the most and least peaceful countries. The main findings of the 2023 Global Peace Index are: The overall score for the 2023 GPI deteriorated this year due to a reduction in six of the nine geographical regions represented.
