Desk Deport: With the wider world in turmoil, Portugal too has become less peaceful than it was only a few years ago.

This year’s Global Peace Index sees the country drop yet another slot, from 6th position to 7th, coming in now behind Iceland, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland.

In 2019, the nation basked in 3rd place, but since then it has been downhill, albeit a very slow downhill and still admirably ‘safe’ in comparison to so many other countries.

As the Index’s preamble stresses, there haven’t been this number of conflicts in the world (currently 56) since World War II.

The unrest however hasn’t affected Iceland, in pole position as the most peaceful country on the planet since 2008.

The Global Peace Index is compiled using “23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources and measures the state of peace across three domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarisation. This year it introduces a new measure of global military capability that incorporates military sophistication, technology, and battle readiness into a single measure”.

Europe is the most peaceful region in the world and home to eight of the 10 most peaceful countries. It has been the most peaceful region every year since the start of the Index, says the official blurb. 

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains the world’s least peaceful region, while North America recorded the largest average deterioration of all the regions, with significant falls in peacefulness in both Canada and the US. However, despite this deterioration, North America remains the third most peaceful region globally, behind Europe and Asia-Pacific.

This year’s conclusions are that the world has become less peaceful for the 12th time, with peace deteriorating in more than 90 countries.

Equally, 65 countries are more peaceful and there has also been a drop in the murder rate in 112 countries, while the perception of crime has improved in 96.

2023 saw 162,000 war-related deaths – the second highest number of victims in the last 30 years. More than 160,000 people died last year in Gaza and Ukraine alone.

As for the economic impact of war, last year’s conflicts cost the world more than €17 billion euros.

With more and more countries betting on militarisation, compilers (the Institute for Economics and Peace) warn that the likelihood of new conflicts is increasing. ND

Biniyougbarta/SAM//