Global Peace Index 2025

The Global Peace Index, GPI, is an annual publication from the Institute for Economics and Peace. IEP is a global think tank headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Published for the first time in 2007, the GPI measures peacefulness in 163 countries, which together represent 99.7% of the world’s population. Hence, 2025 would be the 19th edition in the series.

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Why the GPI Matters-

• For an objective analysis across countries and regions, irrespective of political alignment. 
• Historical trends that will allow for early warning signals of instability. 
• Enables cross-country benchmarking for inspiring peaceful policy reforms.
• Here, NGOs can assess which areas are vulnerable to humanitarian intervention. 
• The government can manage more resources concerning internal security and foreign relations. 
• Business uses this information to identify and calculate geopolitical risks associated with new markets.
• Development agencies align programs with areas that have shown long-term deterioration in peace. 
• Peaceful nations typically earn higher foreign direct investments because they have low risk profiles. 
• Promoting social harmony would be possible as policymakers would be using GPI indicators in reducing violent crime.

How the GPI Measures Peace-

Mostly analysing the 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators arranged under three main domains, the GPI was built:

1. Societal Safety and Security:

For instance, crime rates, domestic violence, and terrorist impacts on:

• The fear of violence and the availability of small arms to civilians.
• Political Unrest and Internal Violence. 
• This has been expressed in demonstrations, riots, and a lack of confidence оr distrust in public bodies.

2. Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict:

• Assessment of domestic and international warfare intensity:
  • Considers deaths caused by non-state actors and extremist organisations. 
• The intensity of wars and political disputes:
  • Considers duration, periodicity, and effects of civil as well as international wars. 
• Relations with neighbouring countries:
  • Consider tensions, border disputes, and diplomatic ruptures that bear upon peace.

3. Militarisation:

• Military expenses  as a percentage of GDP:
  • It measures the greater willingness for defence priorities that encroach on PG.
• Military Personnel:
  • It also includes the levels of recruitment and conscription policies.
• Access to heavy Weapons and Arms Imports:
  • Almost implies how easily tanks, aircraft, and advanced weapon systems could be acquired.
  • The number of heavy weapons accesses and imports is indicative of the ease with which a country is buying tanks, aircraft, and advanced weapon systems.

What is Global Peace Index Score?

The scores range from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating the most peaceful conditions and 5 the least. In this system, a lower score means better performance in important areas like internal security, public safety, and low levels of conflict both at home and abroad.

Top 10 Most Peaceful Countries–GPI 2025-

According to the 2025 report, these are the most peaceful countries in the world:

These nations fare well with respect to social security, crime rates and military activity. Iceland is the world’s top destination for security in human activity since 2008, as its society is stable, violence is low, and militarisation is minimal.

Countries to be Detained in the Bottom 10 Least Peaceful Nations–GPI 2025-

At the bottom end of the spectrum are the following countries, namely:

Wars, political instability, humanitarian crises, and weak governance are active in these countries, which keep their peace scores very low by precedent.

India’s Rank and South Asian Comparison-

How India is Fairing in 2025:

• India figures 115 on the GPI scale at a score of 2.229. 
• The change is minor, just an improvement from the 2024 ranking, consequent to gains in internal stability and reduced conflict deaths.

South Asia Regional Comparison:

• Bangladesh: Rank 123
• Pakistan: Rank 144
• Afghanistan: Rank 158

India still holds up better than many of its South Asian neighbours. It implies a moderate level of internal security but with considerable room for improvement in terms of civil unrest, people’s safety, and militarisation.

Global Peace Trends and Concerns-

Deterioration in Global Peace:

World peace was reduced in 2025 by 0.36% – the 13th consecutive year of decline. A record number of state-based conflicts currently underway – 59 – is the highest level since World War II. Some 152,000 deaths from conflicts were reported worldwide in 2024.

Escalation of Militarisation, Armed Forces:

Comparatively, 84 countries have increased military expenditure compared to the year before. 

Between 2008 and the present, the most peaceful nations improved by just 1 per cent while the ten least peaceful nations dropped by 7.5 per cent. The changes in the peace inequality gap then become wider. 

Next in the list is MENA (Middle East & North Africa), which is the third least peaceful region, with Syria, Yemen, and Sudan at the bottom. 

Perhaps upheaval and instability in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan remain. Thus, troubling affairs in South Asia are still continuing.

Although slippage is noted due to increasing political tensions and refugee pressures, it still holds its place among the most peaceful of all regional rankings in the world, with minimal disturbances.

Effects of Violence on the Economy and Society:

Violence will, in 2024, cost the global economy an estimated $19.97 trillion or 11.6% of world GDP.

These include military expenditure costs, conflict-related losses, policing costs, incarceration costs, and productivity losses.

Some Concluding Thoughts-

Being in the middle range of the Global Peace Index, India has a mixed record. The country has made some gains in the areas of internal peace and regional diplomacy over the last few decades, but others still linger:

• Civil Disturbances and Communal Tensions.
• Border disputes with neighbours
• Relatively high military expenditure

India needs to bring down domestic violence, spend on conflict prevention, and de-escalate regional tensions to improve its GPI ranking. From what the GPI says, peace is not just a moral imperative-it’s an economic and developmental imperative.

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