London, Thanasis Gavos

Greece ranks 60th among 163 countries (with a score of 1.89) in the ranking of Global Peace Index 2023 drawn up by the international think tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

This is a decline of six places compared to the Index for the previous year (2022). Among the 36 countries of the Index that fall under the geographical category of Europe, Greece comes 30th.

The Peace Index is based on the assessment of three categories per country: the level of social security and protection of citizens, the degree of involvement in domestic or external conflicts of varying degrees of violence or threat of violence, and the degree of militarization.

In the field of security, Greece is 36th, involvement in conflicts 94th, and militarization 138th.

The 23 sub-indicators examined under these categories are: violent protests, foreign and domestic conflicts, deaths from domestic conflicts, impact of terrorism, intensity of domestic conflict, relations with neighboring countries, presence of refugees and internally displaced people , political instability, violent crime, incarceration rates, adequacy of policing, deaths from conflicts abroad, arms imports, level of political terrorism, population access to small arms, military spending, perceptions of crime, arms exports, homicide rates, armed manpower forces, existence of nuclear and heavy weapons, financing of a United Nations peacekeeping force.

The average level of global peace declined by 0.42% in 2022, the Index’s 13th annual deterioration over the past 15 years. The peace situation improved in 84 countries and worsened in 79.

At the top of the Peace Index for another year is Iceland (with a score of 1.124), followed in order by Denmark (1.31), Ireland (1.312), New Zealand (1.313) and Austria (1.316). Singapore, Portugal, Slovenia, Japan and Switzerland complete the top ten.

On the contrary, the worst performance of the Index (with a score of 3.448) is once again recorded by Afghanistan. The remaining countries in red, indicating a very low score, are, in order, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia, Ukraine, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Mali and Central African Republic.

Turkey is low in the ranking, in 147th place with a score of 2.8 (together with Iran). Cyprus is 64th.

The IEP report further estimates the economic impact of violence worldwide for 2022 at $17.5 trillion, a cost equivalent to 12.9% of global GDP and up 6.6% from 2021.

It is noted that Cyprus is estimated to be 8th in the Index in terms of the highest economic cost of threats to peace as a percentage of GDP, with 23.3% (behind only Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sudan, North Korea, Somalia, Central African Republic, Colombia). As explained, this cost results from the economic conditions created by the proportionally large number of refugees, as well as internally displaced residents.

Greece is 64th in terms of the economic cost of threats to peace, at 8% of GDP.

In the individual figures, the increase of 96% of deaths in battles in war zones in 2022 compared to 2021 is sensational, due to the war in Ukraine, but also the conflicts in Mali, Myanmar and primarily in Ethiopia, where most were recorded victims.

Special mention is made of the increased lethal use of drones in war zones. A total of 238,000 people are estimated to be killed in armed conflicts in 2022. 91 countries were involved in armed conflict outside their borders last year, compared to 58 countries in 2008.

It is the 17th year of publication of the Global Peace Index by the IER. The 163 countries in the Index represent 99.7% of the world’s population.