World Map of Peace
How peaceful are the countries of the world?
Peace can not only be described but also compared. This series ranks states by what makes them peaceful and names, for every figure, where it comes from
Key points at a glance
- According to the Global Peace Index 2026, the most peaceful region in the world is Western and Central Europe, the least peaceful the Middle East and North Africa.
- Over the past year 99 states became less peaceful and 62 more peaceful. Since 2008, peace has deteriorated worldwide.
- Violence cost the world economy around 21.8 trillion US dollars in 2025, which is 10.5 percent of global economic output.
- 21 states manage without an army of their own, and four are considered permanently neutral. Both rest on constitutions, treaties or declarations.
2008
- States involved in a conflict beyond their borders within five years
- 59
- States with 1,000 or more conflict deaths in one year
- 8
- Deaths from internal conflict in one year
- around 29,000
- Spending on peacebuilding and peacekeeping
- 37.3 billion US dollars
2026 edition
- States involved in a conflict beyond their borders within five years
- 103
- States with 1,000 or more conflict deaths in one year
- 20
- Deaths from internal conflict in one year
- over 181,000
- Spending on peacebuilding and peacekeeping
- 49.2 billion US dollars
- The ten most affected countries23.4%
- Worldwide10.5%
- The ten least affected countries2.2%
The series at a glance
| Topic | Question | Data basis |
|---|---|---|
| The safest countries in the world | Which countries are the most peaceful? | Global Peace Index 2026 |
| Countries without an army | Which states manage without armed forces of their own? | Constitutions, treaties and Barbey 2020 |
| Neutral countries | Which states have committed themselves to neutrality? | Treaties, constitutions and UN resolutions |
| Global Peace Index | How do you measure how peaceful a country is? | Global Peace Index 2026, methodology section |
Each page in this series answers a question that is often asked: which countries are the safest, which manage without an army of their own, which have committed themselves to neutrality and how the best-known peace index actually calculates. The basis is primary sources, meaning the report of the Institute for Economics and Peace, constitutional texts and laws. A ranking is not a judgement about people but a snapshot that changes with every edition.
The pages
Global Peace Index 2026
The safest countries in the world
Iceland has led the ranking of the most peaceful countries for nineteen years. Who follows behind it and why is shown by the Global Peace Index 2026
ViewConstitutions, treaties and Barbey 2020
Countries without an army
Around twenty states in the world have no army of their own. Some abolished it, others never founded one, and each arranges its security in its own way
ViewTreaties, constitutions and UN resolutions
Neutral countries
Neutral is not always neutral. Some states have been so by treaty for over two hundred years, others by constitution, by law or simply as policy
ViewGlobal Peace Index 2026, methodology section
Global Peace Index
Every year the Global Peace Index ranks 163 states by how peaceful they are. If you want to read the ranking, it helps to know how it is calculated
View
Is the world becoming more or less peaceful?
According to the Global Peace Index 2026, the world became less peaceful again over the past year. Of 163 states and territories, 99 deteriorated and 62 improved. Since the first edition in 2008, 119 states have lost peacefulness and 42 have gained it, and 17 of the index’s 23 indicators have worsened.
The trend is clearest in conflict. The number of states involved in at least one conflict beyond their borders over the previous five years rose from 59 in 2008 to 103. The number of countries with at least 1,000 conflict deaths in a single year grew from eight to 20. At the same time, world military spending has risen for ten years in a row, and 97 states have increased their defence spending relative to their economic output.
The gap between the most and the least peaceful countries has widened as well. Since 2008, the 25 most peaceful countries have deteriorated by just 0.3 percent on average, the 25 least peaceful by 18.9 percent. Peace has therefore not declined evenly everywhere, but most sharply where it was already weak.
How do the world regions differ on peace?
The index divides the world into eight regions. The most peaceful is Western and Central Europe, home to seven of the ten most peaceful countries in the world. The least peaceful is the Middle East and North Africa. Seven of the eight regions deteriorated over the past year.
The only region that improved on average is Eastern Europe and Central Asia. South Asia recorded the largest decline, driven mainly by developments in Nepal and Pakistan, and India has also lost considerable ground. Within each region, countries are often far apart: in sub-Saharan Africa, Mauritius ranks 18th worldwide, while in South America the most peaceful country, Uruguay, ranks 43rd.
Europe deserves a second look. The region is the most peaceful overall, but in the Militarisation domain the trend has reversed since 2022, and much of the recent increase is concentrated in Western and Central Europe. Germany ranks 19th in this region and 28th worldwide.
Why is peace declining worldwide?
The report names armed conflict as the main cause. One form has grown in particular: conflicts within a state in which other states take part. They have become more than 175 percent more frequent since 2010. Overall, the report describes wars as more internationalised and harder to end than before.
The institute places this development within a wider shift it calls the Great Fragmentation, a splintering of the international order that began in the late 2000s. After the Cold War and the era of rapid globalisation after 1990, it sees this as the third major phase of international relations in the past 50 years. The number of middle powers has nearly doubled since 1991, from nine to 16.
A single indicator shows how strongly conflict shapes the overall picture. Deaths from internal conflict rose from around 29,000 in 2008 to over 181,000 in the past year, after a peak of more than 309,000 in 2023. In the index, this indicator worsened by 6.5 percent over the past year, more than ever before in a single year.
How can peace be compared between countries?
There are two ways of comparing countries on peace. The first measures: an index such as the one by the Institute for Economics and Peace turns crime, conflict and militarisation into a score and ranks states by it. The second looks at legal status, that is, whether a state has renounced an army or committed itself to neutrality.
The two ways answer different questions. A ranking shows how much violence there is in a country and how that changes over the years. Legal status shows which decisions a state has taken about how it deals with war and defence. Iceland shows that the two can coincide: the country has no army of its own and has topped the ranking since 2008.
Neither way captures what peace research calls positive peace, meaning justice, reliable institutions and trust within a society. The pages in this series therefore always say what a figure measures and what it does not, and point to the source it comes from. For positive peace, the Institute for Economics and Peace has developed a measure of its own, the Positive Peace Index, which asks among other things about a well-functioning government and the free flow of information.
Frequently asked questions about peace worldwide
What does violence cost the world economy?
According to the Global Peace Index 2026, the economic impact of violence in 2025 was 21.8 trillion US dollars, calculated in purchasing power parity. That equals 10.5 percent of global economic output, or 2,657 US dollars per person. Compared with the previous year the figure rose by 3.2 percent, mainly because of higher military spending.
The burden is unevenly shared. In the ten countries most affected by violence, the cost averaged 23.4 percent of economic output, in the ten least affected only 2.2 percent. Spending on the military and internal security together accounts for 73 percent of the total.
How much money goes into peacebuilding?
In 2025, 49.2 billion US dollars were spent worldwide on peacebuilding and peacekeeping. That is more than in 2008, when it was 37.3 billion US dollars. Relative to military spending, however, the amount remains small: it equals 0.5 percent of global military expenditure.
The report puts military spending itself at 9.5 trillion US dollars. It rose by five percent in 2025, more than in any year since the index began. UN peacekeeping funding is one of the indicators, and over the past year it improved more than any other indicator.
How many people worldwide have been forced to flee?
According to the Global Peace Index 2026, 117 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced in 2025, meaning they fled abroad or were displaced within their own country. That is roughly one in every 67 people on Earth.
The index records refugees and internally displaced people as an indicator of its own and gives it a weight of 4 on a scale up to 5, one of the higher weights in the index. The report describes this indicator as remaining high. How many people have to leave a country, or lose their home within its borders, says a great deal about how safe life there is.
What does artificial intelligence have to do with peace?
The 2026 edition of the Global Peace Index examines how artificial intelligence is changing war and peacebuilding. Recorded drone strike events rose 115-fold between 2018 and 2025, and 565 different armed groups carried out at least one such attack during that period.
The report describes concern that human oversight of lethal decisions is eroding as systems select targets ever faster. At the same time it asks how the same technology can be used in peacebuilding. At the centre is always the question of where people keep responsibility.
How many states are there in the world?
The United Nations has 193 member states, the most recent being South Sudan in 2011. In addition there are two observer states that are not members: the Holy See and Palestine. Switzerland, incidentally, has only been a member of the United Nations since 2002.
The Global Peace Index compares 163 states and territories, home to 99.7 percent of the world’s population. Some very small states are not included, among them several that manage without an army of their own. The page on countries without an army lists them individually.
Peace does not begin in a ranking
Behind every position are people who settle disputes, connect neighbourhoods and build trust. That is exactly where W3ltfrieden starts: with peace missions that you can start or support yourself.
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