It's a peaceful life in Iceland, home to the blue lagoon. Source: ThinkStock
WITH bullets flying and chaos reigning in all corners of the globe, one surprising country has managed to come out on top.
Iceland has just been named the world's most peaceful place by the Global Peace Index 2014 produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a think tank that conducts an annual study of 162 countries now in its eighth year.
It's no mean feat in a world that has become more violent in the last seven years with a "notable deterioration" in global peace due to conflict in Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Russia, among other places.
A member of Neturei Karta, a fringe ultra-Orthodox movement in Israel demonstrates against the country's military operation in Gaza. Pic: AFP. Source: AFP
The study takes into account 22 indicators that gauge the amount of violence or fear of violence in a society including factors like the number of murders, jailed population, access to weapons, violent crime and military expenditure.
Iceland was followed by Denmark, Austria and New Zealand, with Switzerland, Finland, Canada, Japan, Belgium and Norway rounding out the top ten.
Australia ranked number 15 with negative score of its involvement in conflicts and the number of women in parliament.
Just 11 countries in the world ranked low for all forms of conflict, The Independent reports, including Switzerland, Japan, Qatar, Mauritius, Uruguay, Chile, Botswana, Costa Rica, Vietnam, Panama and Brazil.
A Palestinian boy in the middle of destroyed houses in Gaza City's Shejaiya neighbourhood. Pic: AFP. Source: AFP
Syria was the least peaceful country this year, replacing Afghanistan. South Sudan experienced the biggest drop while Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia all featured in the bottom ten.
IEP founder and executive chairman Steve Killelea said a number of things have contributed to a deterioration recently including the global financial crisis, Arab spring and rise of terrorism.
"Given the deteriorating global situation we cannot be complacent about the institutional bedrocks for peace: our research shows that peace is unlikely to flourish without deep foundations. This is a wakeup call to governments, development agencies, investors and the wider international community that building peace is the prerequisite for economic and social development," he said.
Pro-Russian rebels ride on an APC in the town of Krasnodon, eastern Ukraine Pic: AFP. Source: AP
All this violence also has an economic cost, which reached over $10 trillion in the last year, twice the GDP of Africa. Mr Killelea said this has led to very real costs in the global economy which is equivalent to around 19 per cent of global economic growth in the last year.
"To put this in perspective, this is around $1,350 per person. The danger is that we fall into a negative cycle: low economic growth leads to higher levels of violence, the containment of which produces lower economic growth."
Zambia, Haiti, Argentina, Chad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nepal, Burundi, Georgia, Liberia and Qatar were the countries named most likely to deteriorate in the two years ahead.
For the full report, click here
Kim Jong-un (C) inspecting a test firing of a newly developed high-performance tactical rocket at undisclosed place in North Korea. Pic: AFP. Source: AFP
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