World became a more peaceful place despite Syria – survey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Despite an escalating conflict in Syria and mounting civil unrest in Europe, the world became a more peaceful place in the last year, a study showed on Tuesday, highlighting particular improvement in Africa, Reuters reported.

The Global Peace Index, produced by the Australia and U.S.-basedInstitute for Economics and Peace, showed its first improvement in two years. For the first time, sub-Saharan Africa was no longer the world's least peaceful region, losing that dubious distinction to the Middle East and North Africa in the aftermath of the "Arab Spring".

The survey studied 23 indicators across 158 countries, ranging from measures of civil unrest and crime to military spending, involvement in armed conflict and relations with neighbors. Aside from the deterioration in the Middle East, every other region in the world showed at least some form of improvement.

The sharpest deterioration in peace, the report showed, took place in Syria, with several other countries in the region falling down the list.

Last year's report showed violence linked to the "Arab Spring" had made the world a less peaceful place, while the 2010 study showed economic hardship driving up global unrest. Those two years undid three years of improvements, with the level of global peace in 2012 now almost exactly that of six years earlier, said survey founder Steve Killelea, an Australian entrepreneur.

Somalia remained the world's least peaceful place, the report said, but in general African countries were amongst the surveys' fastest risers, led by Zimbabwe.

In Latin America, improving relations between Venezuela and Colombia were the most striking example of improvement, the report said. In Asia, despite worries over a growing arms race and geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States, overall defense spending appeared roughly flat and conflict slightly down.

The picture in Europe, Killelea said, was distinctly mixed. Greece in particular had been tumbling down the list, dropping 40 or so places over four years in the face of mounting civil unrest and crime as it struggles with tough austerity measures and worries over a possible exit from the euro single currency.

But Iceland, probably the country most affected by the financial crisis after its economy and currency imploded in 2008, remained at the top of the list as the world's most peaceful country.