“Peace is always beautiful,” Whitman’s words would never go out of vogue and would be more prevalent in the times to come. Afterall, isn’t life a long gamble of shuffling through various events and wishing that we somehow attain the sweet release of peace at the end of dawn? The month of June bid adieu with the release of GPI rankings of 2023. On June 28th, 2023, Institute for Economics & Peace released its 17th edition of the Global Peace Index, revealing an overall deterioration in the world’s peace from the past year. Around 89 countries demonstrated an improvement, while 79 displayed a leap of deterioration. The post-Covid world saw increased civil and political unrest and triggered regional and global conflicts.
Global Peace Index [GPI]
The Global Peace Index is a cohesive report curated by the Institute for Economics and Peace and is released annually. The first was produced in 2007; since then, it has been a yearly event. Various factors, such as levels of violence, crime, and political instability, are considered for collating the final data. A total of 163 countries worldwide are covered in this ranking, which falls around 99.7% of the world population. There are three arenas of assessment done by GPI, which include the level of Societal Safety and Security, the extent of Ongoing domestic and International conflict, and finally, the degree of militarisation. Apart from this, 23 indicators assist in curating the final report, the nature of the indicators varying from both qualitative and quantitative. Levels of violence, crime, conflict, militarization in each country, political instability, and respect for human rights are some of the measures considered via these indicators.
India’s Peacefulness Stand in 2023
India was ranked 126th in all 163 countries with a score of 2.314. The nation displayed a rise of 9 ranks from last year’s position of 135th with a score of 2.578. Although political turbulence has been prevalent in the country from past years’ events, given the protests over various reforms accelerated by the government, the scope for further improvement is obvious. Among the 26 Asian countries analyzed, India was ranked 21st, falling in the decent category of “medium.”
However, the reports also indicated India’s falling compared to a few of its neighboring counterparts, such as Bhutan, Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives, ranking far above India. The countries of Myanmar and Pakistan fall back from India at a rank of 145 and 146, respectively.
Other key findings
For the 15th year in a row, Iceland is flagging tall and high with the first spot in the GPI rankings, with Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and Austria constituting the top five ranked countries. Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Yemen, and Syria were the lowest ranked countries. Afghanistan stood at the lowest pit of the bottom at 163rd rank, demarcating sincere contention and crisis in its domain.
