Amid ongoing wars in the Middle East, some countries are thriving peacefully, fostering stability.

Assessing the level of peacefulness in 163 countries and territories worldwide, the 18th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2024, published by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), ranked Kuwait first as the most peaceful country in the MENA region and 25th globally among 163 countries. Qatar is ranked second in the MENA region and 29th globally.

The GPI measures the state of peace across three key domains: social safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and militarization, contributing to a nation’s overall level of peace.

Among the Top 10 in the world, eight countries are from Europe and two from Asia. ”Europe is the most peaceful region in the world and is home to eight of the ten most peaceful countries. It has been the most peaceful region every year since the start of the GPI. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remained the world’s least peaceful region,” noted the report.

The report further highlighted that this year’s results witnessed a decline in the average level of global peacefulness by 0.56%, marking the 12th deterioration in peacefulness in the last 16 years. 65 countries recorded improvement, and 97 experienced downturns in peacefulness.

“This is the highest number of countries to deteriorate in peacefulness in a single year since the index’s inception in 2008,” said the report. 

This comes as ongoing geopolitical tensions such as the Israel-Gaza war and the Russia-Ukraine war have resulted in failed peace measures. 

According to the GPI, Yemen is the least peaceful country in the world this year, followed by Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. This marks the first year Yemen has been ranked as the least peaceful country in the world, falling 24 places since the index was created.

“The conflict in Gaza has had a very strong impact on global peacefulness, with Israel and Palestine having the first and fourth largest deteriorations in peacefulness respectively,” the report said. 

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