UAE is world's 33rd most peaceful country

Despite regional unrest, the UAE saw its ranking improving substantially in the Global Peace Index (GPI) in 2011 released on Wednesday.

The UAE was rated 33rd peaceful country as compared to 44th last year, ahead of many of the world’s major developed countries, Institute for Economics and Peace’s (IEP) GPI figures showed.

The UAE has been rated ahead of France (36), Italy (45), South Korea (50) and US (82).

Regionally, the UAE was ranked third peaceful country in the Middle East after Qatar (12) and Kuwait (29). Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were rated 41st, 101st and 123rd, respectively.

Iceland, New Zealand, Japan, Denmark, Czech Republic, Austria, Finland, Canada, Norway and Slovenia ranked top ten most peaceful countries; while Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, North Korea, Congo, Russia, Pakistan, Central African Republic and Libya were declared as least.

Among other major countries, China, India, Brazil, Philippines, were ranked 80th, 135th, 74th and 136th, respectively.

IEP said that the world has become slightly less peaceful in the past year however the deterioration is smaller than the previous year when some nations experienced an intensification of conflicts and growing instability linked to rapid rises in food, fuel and commodity prices and the global economic downturn.

The fifth edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) is composed of 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from respected sources, which combine internal and external factors ranging from a nation’s level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights.

The recent waves of uprisings and revolutions in the Middle East have been reflected in sharply deteriorating GPI scores across the region, notably in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, which were previously ranked in the top half of the GPI.

The indicator showed that the most substantial year-on-year score decline (improvement) was military expenditure as a percentage of GDP, reflecting the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on defence budgets.

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