Armenia records largest improvement in Global Peace Index

Armenia records largest improvement in Global Peace Index

PanARMENIAN.Net - The 14th edition of the Global Peace Index from the international think-tank the Institute for Economics & Peace is out now, and Armenia turns out to have recorded the largest improvement of any country.

The country rose 15 places to rank 99th in the new report, whereas neighboring Azerbaijan improved its standing by 12 notches to rank 120th.

Armenia and Azerbaijan "recorded the first and second largest improvements in peacefulness globally, primarily owing to an improvement in neighbouring countries relations between the two neighbours," the report says.

After the "Four-Day War", "the success of the operational ceasefire in 2017-2019 and the so-called "velvet revolution" in Armenia in 2018 has significantly improved relationships between the two countries," according to the Index.

"On the Safety and Security domain, Armenia’s incarceration rate improved significantly, falling over 35 per cent over the past three years to 76 prisoners per 100,000 people. This fall means that Armenia now has the lowest incarceration rate in the Russia and Eurasia region. There was also an improvement in its homicide rate, political instability, and a fall in terrorism impact," says the report.

"Despite these improvements, Armenia did record deteriorations in some indicators. Although political instability improved, it came at the expense of increasing government interference, resulting in a deterioration in Armenia’s political terror scale score. There was also a deterioration in the Militarisation domain. Weapons imports rose significantly, as did military expenditure as a percentage of GDP."

Iceland, meanwhile, remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position that it has held since 2008. It is joined at the top of the index by New Zealand, Austria, Portugal, and Denmark. Afghanistan remains as the least peaceful country, a position it has held for two years, followed by Syria, Iraq and South Sudan.

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