RANKED: The most peaceful countries in the world

pulse

August 10, 2017 4:32 PM

The 2017 Global Peace Index reveals which countries have the least internal and external conflict around the world.

Austria made the top 5 in the 2017 Global Peace Index.

Haiti, Bolivia, Chile, and Latvia all have something in common: they're more peaceful than the United States.

The analysis comes from the the 2017

12. Australia

11. Japan

10. Ireland

9. Switzerland

8. Canada

7. Slovenia

6. Czech Republic

5. Denmark

4. Austria

3. Portugal

2. New Zealand

1. Iceland

Iceland has ranked as the world’s most peaceful country every year since 2008. In the 2017 Global Peace Index, it also ranked as the most peaceful country on two of the three domains, societal safety and security and militarization.

Out of every country surveyed, only Iceland is ranked amongst the five most peaceful countries for both the militarization domain and the index overall. The continuation of Iceland's economic recovery has supported an improvement in the score for "likelihood of violent demonstrations," according to the researchers.

The global average for low levels of corruption (which is correlated with high levels of peacefulness) decreased by 2% and 3.3% in Europe, reflecting increased perceptions of government corruption in the wake of high-profile scandals in Spain, France, and Iceland.

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