The world’s safest country has been named but global peace levels have deteriorated since last year, according to the latest Global Peace Index.
The 2025 Index, created by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), also finds that the world is undergoing ‘a fundamental reshaping of the global order’.
Researchers record 59 active state-based conflicts, the most since the end of WWII, with 100 countries becoming less peaceful than they were a decade ago.
Countries are ranked based on both internal peace indicators, such as the level of violent crime, the number of murders and violent demonstrations, and external peace indicators such as military expenditure, number of nuclear weapons and relations with neighbouring countries.
Iceland tops the ranking again as the world’s most peaceful country in 2025, a title it has held since 2008.
Ireland takes second place for peace, while New Zealand, Austria and Switzerland also make the top five.
Singapore lands just outside the top five with the rest of the top 10 made up of European countries – Portugal, Denmark, Slovenia and Finland.
The UK ranks as the 30th most peaceful country in the world and has risen two places in the index since 2024.
Iceland tops the ranking again as the world’s most peaceful country in 2025, a title it has held since 2008
Ireland takes second place for peace on the ranking. The report claims that global peace levels have fallen since 2024
The USA lands at the bottom end of the ranking, falling to place 128 out of 163 countries. Although its score did not change this year, the report notes that the country is facing ‘rising political tensions and increasing polarisation’.
Russia is rated the world’s least peaceful country with Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen all in the bottom five.
Western and Central Europe is the most peaceful region in the world but the researchers warn that ‘Europe’s security environment is undergoing a profound transformation’.
They claim that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ‘diminishing US strategic focus’ on Europe has meant that European countries are ‘increasingly diverting funds’ from areas such as education and healthcare towards ‘military expenditure’.
The researchers add: ‘The Russian threat is real and no individual European country comes close to Russia’s military capability.’
The Middle East and North African region remains the world’s least peaceful area in 2025. Meanwhile Sub-Saharan Africa has the most countries engaged in conflict, with 35 of 43 nations involved in a conflict in the last five years.
According to the IEP, Kashmir, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria are the regions that are at highest risk of entering a major war.
South America is the only region to improve on its peacefulness scores since last year’s index.
New Zealand ranks as the third most peaceful country in the world in 2025
Russia is rated the world’s least peaceful country. The report states that ‘no individual European country comes close to Russia’s military capability’
China has seen the biggest increase in global influence since the Cold War
The number of countries that are considered to have ‘global influence’ has also risen, with 34 nations considered to have ‘significant geopolitical influence’ in at least one other country.
That’s a huge increase since the end of the Cold War, when just 13 countries were considered to hold that much influence.
China has seen the biggest increase in influence since the Cold War but Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, the UAE, Israel, South Africa, Brazil and Indonesia are also recorded as being ‘influential regional powers’.
Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman at the IEP, says: ‘The concept of “forever wars” is more real than at any stage in history.
‘This year’s Global Peace Index shows that the world is at a critical inflection point. This is driven by rising middle-level powers, major power competition, and unsustainable levels of debt burdens in the world’s most fragile countries.
‘This is leading to a fundamental realignment and a possible tipping point to a new international order, the nature of which still can’t be fathomed.’
