Global Peace Index!

[NickD]

Was going to chuck this in another thread, but didn't really fit any of the war ones...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Peace_Index

The Economist Intelligence Unit measured countries' peacefulness based on wide range of indicators – 24 in all – including ease of access to "weapons of minor destruction" (guns, small explosives), military expenditure, local corruption, and the level of respect for human rights.

After compiling the Index, the researchers examined it for patterns in order to identify the "drivers" that make for peaceful societies as measured by the index. They found that peaceful countries often shared high levels of democracy and transparency of government, education and material well-being. While the U.S. possesses many of these characteristics, its ranking was brought down by its engagement in warfare and external conflict, as well as high levels of incarceration and homicide. The U.S.'s rank also suffered due to the large share of military expenditure from its GDP, attributed to its status as one of the world's military-diplomatic powers.

The main findings of the Global Peace Index are:

Peace correlated to indicators such as income, schooling and the level of regional integration
Peaceful countries often shared high levels of transparency of government and low corruption
Small, stable countries which are part of regional blocks are most likely to get a higher ranking

Some of the rankings, top 10 and the countries of people here that I can remember, plus a couple of interesting countries:

Code: Select all

   Rank   Country           Score
    1      Norway           1.357
    2      New Zealand      1.363
    3      Denmark          1.377
    4      Ireland          1.396
    5      Japan            1.413
    6      Finland          1.447
    7      Sweden           1.478
    8      Canada           1.481
    9      Portugal         1.481
    10     Austria          1.483
    12     Germany          1.523
    25     Australia        1.664
    26     Romania          1.682
    34     France           1.729
    49     United Kingdom   1.898
    83     Brazil           2.173
    96     USA              2.317
    97     Iran             2.320
    118    Russia           2.903
    119    Israel           3.033
    120    Sudan            3.182
    121    Iraq             3.437

[Rotku]

Interesting.

[Mulu]

At least we beat Iran.

[Valdimir]

This is what you get when you cross a hippy with an accountant...
Peace, love, dove quantified...

[fluffmonster]

Note however that a country's rank is not independent of another country's rank. For example, allies of the US do not need to have as large a military because they can rely on the US for their protection to some extent. Another big determinant they seem to have missed is border effects...i.e., what is the peacefulness ranking of a country's neighbors? I bet if you took Norway and stuck it right next to Iran, it'd have a much lower peacefulness ranking and for good reason, since 'peaceful' Norway would have to be prepared to defend itself against those pesky Iranians.

[Veilan]

Those are valid caveats, however in the case of the US, they only stress the score... I mean, considering how terribly many borders the US shares with hostile rogue nations...

That said, I don't think the report tried to make any assessment of how rightful or well-founded the warlikeness of these countries are... did it?

By and large it does not seem to be telling anything more than the obvious.

[MorbidKate]

Code: Select all

   Rank   Country           Score
    1      Norway           1.357 (4,78 M)
    2      New Zealand      1.363 (4.23 M)
    3      Denmark          1.377 (5.44 M)
    4      Ireland          1.396 (4.23 M)
    5      Japan            1.413 (127.72 M)
    6      Finland          1.447 (5.31 M)
    7      Sweden           1.478 (9.15 M)
    8      Canada           1.481 (33.00 M)
    9      Portugal         1.481 (10.62 M)
    10     Austria          1.483 (8.36 M)
    12     Germany          1.523 (82.31 M)
    25     Australia        1.664 (20.85 M)
    26     Romania          1.682 (21.44 M)
    34     France           1.729 (64.10 M)
    49     United Kingdom   1.898 (60.21 M)
    83     Brazil           2.173 (186.50 M)
    96     USA              2.317 (302.05 M)
    97     Iran             2.320 (71.21 M)
    118    Russia           2.903 (142.50 M)
    119    Israel           3.033 (7.15 M)
    120    Sudan            3.182 (38.56 M)
    121    Iraq             3.437 (29.00 M)

Interesting list but factors I'd add would be small populations (More socially connected) and strong gun control laws.

Kate

[Mizbiz]

It's always so interesting to see the most densely populated country, Japan, among the most peaceful. But then they're still taught manners, and have de-militarized for the most part, since 1945.

[fluffmonster]

its amazing what you can do with your peace index when your constitution forbids maintenance of a standing army.

[Grand Fromage]

Not a huge surprise with Japan though. The list does factor in military expenditure, and the US is mostly responsible for their defense. Plus if 80's movies have taught me anything, you could never mug a Japanese guy because they're all karate experts. Thus the low crime rate.

[NickD]

Interesting list but factors I'd add would be small populations (More socially connected) and strong gun control laws.

Kate

The small population thing was one of their observations.

Small, stable countries which are part of regional blocks are most likely to get a higher ranking

Noticeably, all the Scandinavian countries got in the top 7.

[Mord]

Imagine that.. The best living conditions *and* the most peaceful.

[NickD]

Imagine that.. The best living conditions *and* the most peaceful.

That, and it's too cold to go outside and be violent.

[Mulu]

There are advantages to living in the ice.