Four regions experienced an improvement in peace: Europe, North America, sub-Saharan Africa and Central America and the Caribbean. The remaining five regions—Asia Pacific, South America, Russia and Eurasia, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa—saw a deterioration. The MENA region is ranked the least peaceful in the world and saw the most significant changes compared to the previous year as violence flared across Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen. Overall, 81 countries became more peaceful while 78 countries were worse off.
The Global Peace Index, issued by the Institute for Economics and Peace, ranks 162 independent states covering 99.6 percent of the world's population. Ten most peaceful countries, in order of importance, are Iceland, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand, Switzerland, Finland, Canada, Japan, Australia and Czech Republic. And the ten least peaceful countries are Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Somalia, Sudan, DR Congo, Pakistan and North Korea.
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Infographics: The world's most and least peaceful countries
