Bangladesh has once again been named the third most peaceful country in South Asia, ranking ahead of Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan, according to the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2024, released on Tuesday by the Australia-based Institute for Economics & Peace.
Bangladesh's state of peace was categorised as medium as the country ranked 93rd out of 163 countries with a score of 2.126 out of 5 in the index.
The lower the score the more peaceful the country.
The 18th edition of the index used 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources each weighted on a scale of 1-5 and measured the state of peace across three domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security, the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict and the degree of Militarisation.
Bangladesh scored 2.515 in the Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict domain, 2.322 in the Societal Safety and Security domain and 1.506 in the Militarisation domain.
Bhutan is the most peaceful country in the South Asia region, a position it has held since 2011. It is now ranked just outside the 20 most peaceful countries in the world. The country ranked 21st and is the only country with a high state of peace in the region.
Nepal came second in the region ranking 81st globally, Srilanka came 4th with a ranking of 110th, and India came fifth in South Asia ranking 116th, all categorised under a medium state of peace.
Pakistan at 140th and Afghanistan at 160th are ranked at the bottom of South Asia with the report categorising the nations at low and very low states of peace respectively.
Iceland most peaceful, Yemen least globally
Iceland remains the most peaceful country, a position it has held since 2008, followed by Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, and Singapore — a new entrant in the top five.
Yemen has replaced Afghanistan as the least peaceful country in the world. It is followed by Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.
Europe remains the most peaceful region, followed by Asia-Pacific.
Meanwhile, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains the least peaceful region. It is home to four of the ten least peaceful countries in the world and the two least peaceful, Sudan and Yemen.
The report stated "This year's results found that the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated by 0.56%. This is the 12th deterioration in peacefulness in the last 16 years, with 65 countries improving and 97 deteriorating in peacefulness. This is the highest number of countries to deteriorate in peacefulness in a single year since the inception of the index."
Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics & Peace, said: "Over the past decade, peacefulness has declined in nine out of the ten years. We are witnessing a record number of conflicts, a rise in militarisation, and heightened international strategic competition. Conflict negatively affects the global economy, and business risk from conflict has never been higher, compounding the current global economic vulnerabilities."
"It is imperative for governments and businesses worldwide to intensify their efforts to resolve the many minor conflicts before they escalate into larger crises. It has been 80 years since the end of WWII, and the current crises underscore the urgency for world leaders to commit to investing in resolving these conflicts," she added.
