The world's most and least peaceful countries, according to the 2017 Global Peace Index

Global travel warnings tend to focus on individual crises, but the most systematic attempt to rank peacefulness worldwide takes a wider view. The 2017 Global Peace Index (GPI), published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace, scored 163 countries and territories — and found the world had grown very slightly calmer over the previous year, even as its most dangerous places grew still more dangerous.

How the index measures peace

The GPI combines 23 indicators into a single score for each country, grouped under three domains: Societal Safety and Security (11 indicators, covering everything from the homicide rate to the number of internally displaced people), Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict (6 indicators measuring involvement in and intensity of conflict), and Militarisation (6 indicators covering military spending, arms transfers and the size of armed forces). Every indicator is normalised on a scale from 1, the most peaceful score, to 5, the least. The 2017 edition — the eleventh since the index launched in 2007 with 121 countries — ranked 163 independent states and territories, together representing more than 99% of the global population.

The most peaceful countries in 2017

Iceland topped the 2017 GPI with a score of 1.111, the lowest any country recorded that year, and a position it has held since the index began. New Zealand followed in second place, with Portugal climbing to third, Austria fourth and Denmark fifth. All ten of the most peaceful countries scored between roughly 1.1 and 1.5 — a tight cluster reflecting stable, low-conflict societies with comparatively small militaries.

Iceland's 2017 score of 1.111 sits far closer to the theoretical floor of the index than to Syria's 3.814 — a gap that kept widening even as the world average edged toward peace.

The least peaceful countries in 2017

At the opposite end, Syria ranked last, scoring 3.814 out of a possible 5 — a country the GPI had placed among the five least peaceful every year since the 2014 edition, when its civil war escalated into open conflict on multiple fronts. Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen completed the bottom five. Unlike the tightly clustered top ten, the least peaceful countries showed a wider spread, from around 3.0 to 3.8, reflecting the different mixes of internal conflict, terrorism and militarisation driving each country's score.

A calmer year, a rougher decade

Taken as a single year-on-year snapshot, 2017 looks like modest good news: the average GPI score improved by 0.28% compared with 2016, with 93 countries recording gains in peacefulness against 68 recording declines. Zoom out, though, and the picture reverses. Since the index's 2008 edition, the global average score had deteriorated by 2.14% — driven largely by conflicts in the Middle East and parts of sub-Saharan Africa outpacing gains elsewhere. The index's authors have described this as a world growing more divided: a shrinking number of countries account for a growing share of global battle deaths, refugees and internal displacement, while most nations continue to see small, steady improvements.

Risers and fallers: Portugal and Syria

Not every country's trajectory tracks the global average. Portugal is the clearest riser: it climbed from 14th place in the 2008 GPI to 3rd in 2017, improving on 12 of the index's 23 indicators, most notably reductions in weapons imports and violent demonstrations, alongside greater political stability following the country's post-crisis economic reforms. Syria is the starkest faller. Ranked a comparatively unremarkable position in the mid-2000s, it collapsed toward last place once its civil war took hold, and by 2017 was among the very few countries ranked in the bottom five across all three of the index's domains — conflict, safety and militarisation alike.

The United States illustrates how militarisation and internal factors can outweigh a relatively low homicide rate: it ranked 114th of 163 in 2017, a fall the index's own analysis attributed to political polarisation and high incarceration and firearm-ownership rates, rather than to any single conflict.

What the ranking means for travellers

The GPI is best read as a broad screening tool rather than a substitute for destination-specific advice:

• A low GPI rank reflects a whole country's societal and military profile, not the safety of any single city or tourist area.
• Government travel advisories, which weigh current events and regional detail, remain the more practical source for day-to-day trip planning.
• Because the index recalculates annually, a country's ranking can shift well before its reputation among travellers catches up.
• The stability of the top ten — largely unchanged for a decade — points to genuine, structural peace rather than a short-lived dip in conflict.

Frequently asked questions