The Global Peace Index measures the state of peace in 162 countries according to 23 indicators that gauge the absence of violence or the fear of violence. It is produced annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace.
The UK, as an example, is relatively free from internal conflict, making it easy to fall to thinking it exists in a state of peace. However, disinformation and propaganda hides the disastrous results of its external efforts.
This year the results show that globally, levels of peace remained largely stable over the last year, however, peace is still lower than when the financial crisis emerged seven years ago.
The most peaceful countries are Iceland, Denmark and Austria. The countries that made the biggest improvements in peace over the last year, generally benefited from the ending of wars with neighbours and involvement in external conflict. The biggest improvers were: Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt and Benin.