The 2011 Global Peace Index has just been released, which should give you a pretty good idea of where you want to live if you’re not a fan of conflict.
Australia didn’t even crack the top ten, but faring a lot better were our friendly Oceanic neighbours, New Zealand, who came second only to Iceland in the rankings of the world’s most peaceful countries. The index covers both internal and international conflict, as well as a range of other factors which are neatly laid out in the video below.
However, Vision Of Humanity, who created the survey, said it’s not all rosy in the world we live in (not the Internet, that’s fine). Among their key findings were the following:
– The world is less peaceful for the third straight year
– Due to an increased threat of terrorist attacks in 29 nations
– A greater likelihood of violent demonstrations in 33 countries
– Arab Spring unrest heralds biggest ever change in rankings, Libya tumbles 83 spots
– Iceland bounces back from economic woes to top ranking
– Somalia displaces Iraq as world’s least peaceful nation
– Violence cost the global economy more than $8.12 trillion in 2010
Iceland has managed to bounce back from a volcanic eruption which paralysed air traffic last year, while being the alleged Ground Zero of last weekend’s failed rapture obviously didn’t damage New Zealand’s standing much, either. You can see each country on the interactive map, including Australia’s miserable 18th place.
It is entirely likely that we came higher up in the rankings until we started a fight about it at the pub.
