Global Peace Index (GPI) defines a nation at "peace" as being one "not involved in violent conflicts with neighboring states or suffering internal wars" – which is sometimes called "negative peace" (i.e., absence of war). This is more measurable and can be used as a starting point to identify the attributes of "positive peace" (structures and institutions that create and maintain peace).
The fourth edition (2010) of the GPI ranks 149 nations by their relative states of peace using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators, with the latest-available figures and information for 2008-2009. The indicators were selected by an international panel of academics and leaders of peace institutions and combine internal and external factors, with the results tested against potential determinants of peace including levels of democracy and transparency, education and material well being.
The GPI was founded by Steve Killelea, an Australian international technology entrepreneur and philanthropist, and is part of the Institute for Economics and Peace, a global think tank dedicated to the research and education of the relationship between economic development, business and peace. The GPI is collated and calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit, with whom the report is written.
The indicators are divided into three segments:
Measures of ongoing domestic and international conflict: • Number of external and internal conflicts fought in 2003-2008
• Estimated number of deaths from organized conflict (external)
• Number of deaths from organized conflict (internal)
• Level of organized conflict (internal)
• Relations with neighboring countries
Measures of societal safety and security: • Perceptions of criminality in society
• Number of displaced people as a percentage of the population
• Political instability
• Level of respect for human rights (Political Terror Scale)
• Potential for terrorist acts
• 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
Measures of militarization: • Military expenditure as a percentage of GDP
• Number of armed services personnel per 100,000 people
• Volume of transfers (imports) of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
• Volume of transfers (exports) of major conventional weapons per 100,000 people
• Budget support for UN peacekeeping missions: percentage of outstanding payments versus annual assessment to the budget of the current peacekeeping missions
• Aggregate number of heavy weapons per 100,000 people
• Ease of access to small arms and light weapons
• Military capability/sophistication
According to the GPI authors, one of the more remarkable findings from the 2010 Global Peace Index is that societies that are highly peaceful also perform exceptionally well in many other ways: well functioning government; sound business environment; respectful of human rights and tolerance; high levels of freedom of information; high participation rates in primary and secondary education; low levels of corruption; equitable sharing of resources.
| 
Tools 
RSS
Feeds