Late last year we did a piece about the world’s most dangerous destinations. It had been culled by International SOS, a health and security services firm.
Of course, there are plenty of destinations that are the polar opposite to those and are VERY safe. THAT list is called the Global Peace Index (GPI). It’s produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) and is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness.
The report presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to-date on trends in peace, its economic value, and how to develop peaceful societies. The Global Peace Index covers 99.7% of the world’s population, and is calculated using 23 indicators of peace, categorized by what is called the “three domains of peacefulness”:
Ongoing Domestic & International Conflict
- Number and duration of internal conflict
- Number of deaths from external organized conflict
- Number of deaths from internal organized conflict
- Number, duration and role in external conflicts
- Intensity of organized internal conflict
Societal Safety & Security
- Level of perceived criminality in a society
- Number of refugees and internally displaced people as a percentage of the population
- Political instability
- Placement on the Political Terror Scale
- Impact of terrorism
- Number of homicides per 100,000 people
- Level of violent crime
- Likelihood of violent demonstrations
- Number of jailed population per 100,000 people
- Number of internal security officers and police per 100,000 people
Militarization
- Military expenditure as a percentage of GDP
- Number of armed services personnel per 100,000 people
- Volume of transfers of major conventional weapons as recipient (imports) per 100,000
- Volume of transfers of major conventional weapons as supplier (exports) per 100,000 people
- Financial contribution to UN peacekeeping missions
- Nuclear and heavy weapons capabilities
- Ease of access to small arms and light weapons
Spoiler alert: Under that criteria, the United States did not make the top ten safest countries to visit.
Here’s their list for 2023 (each of the 23 indicators were weighed on a scale of 1-5):
- Iceland (Score: 1.124)
- Denmark (1.31)
- Ireland (1.312)
- New Zealand (1.313)
- Austria (1.316)
- Singapore (1.332)
- Portugal (1.333)
- Slovenia (1.334)
- Japan (1.336)
- Switzerland (1.339)
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Iceland was #1 – they’ve had that ranking every single year since 2008. And it’s no wonder – they have low crime rates, low military spending and low rates of international conflict. So…yeah.
Some key trends the GPI noted:
- Deaths from global conflict increased by 96% to 238,000
- New data shows higher number of conflict deaths in Ethiopia than Ukraine, eclipsing the previous global peak during the Syrian war
- 79 countries witnessed increased levels of conflict including Ethiopia, Myanmar, Ukraine, Israel, and South Africa
- The global economic impact of violence increased by 17% or $1 trillion, to $17.5 trillion in 2022, equivalent to 13% of global GDP
- A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would cause a drop in global economic output of $2.7 trillion, almost double the loss that occurred due to the 2008 global financial crisis
- Despite the conflict in Ukraine, 92 countries improved on military expenditure and 110 decreased their military personnel
- Conflicts are becoming more internationalized with 91 countries now involved in some form of external conflict, up from 58 in 2008
Also, not surprisingly, the war in Ukraine has caused that country to take a huge hit on its level of safety:
- Ukraine recorded the largest deterioration, falling 14 places to 157th
- The economic impact of violence has increased by 479% or $449 billion, equivalent to 64% of Ukraine’s GDP
- Despite the conflict, Russia’s incarceration rate, violent demonstrations, terrorism impact and homicide rates have improved over the past year, with the homicide rate at its lowest since 2008
- 65% of men in Ukraine aged 20 to 24 years have fled the country, or died in the conflict
Oh, and the United States? We’re wallowing as the 131st safety country. Out of 163 included in the Index. Go us, huh?
You can learn the scores of other countries on Vision of Humanity’s website.
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5 comments
In some recent period(s), Iceland and Finland have had a higher homicide rate than Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
Iceland’s murder rate in 8 times that of Singapore. The methodology of the ranking is biased. Singapore and Taiwan are safe but not on the top 10 list. Taiwan may be excluded because of political pressure from the People’s Republic of China, which is a separatist regime that broke away from China. Tuvalu, a South Pacific nation has had no murders in several years. The US is ranked so low because of the biased methodology. Having military spending at a moderate level is counted against the country. Having nucelar weapons causes a country to be punished by the methodology, really showing bias. There is also no weight given to a country that delivers high quality, cutting edge medicine.
Derek is correct. The entire premise of this survey is designed to result in certain findings. Such as, gee the USA sucks! Well, if you call military spending an unsafe thing then yeah, we look bad. Which is not to say that the US is a “safe” country. However, even these labels are misleading. Much of our country is as safe as the safest places on Earth. Unfortunately, we have pockets that are rife with social and economic rot and which are as dangerous as the worst barrios in Venezuela or Brazil. And those places skew the numbers. As a quick example (though not cited here) is that the murder rate in Memphis/Shelby County, TN is so high that it singlehandedly brings the entire state of Tennessee down 3-4 notches in the 50 state rankings of violent crime. Most of the other murder hotbeds are places similar to Memphis with issues that most of Europe does not have (yet).
Why is Canada not in the list
It’s on their list (link is in the post) – it’s just not in the top 10.