Country drops for third year running; “worst position since 2015”
Portugal is the 7th most peaceful country in the world, according to the Global Peace Index 2023, but it has dropped for the third year in a row and is in its worst position since 2015.
In a year in which the annual report of the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace signals an average deterioration in the global level of peace of 0.42%, based on data from 2022, Portugal is no exception and its performance has also worsened, reports Lusa.
On a scale of 1 (very peaceful) to 5 (not at all peaceful), Portugal has gone from 1.301 to 1.333 points in a year, falling from 6th to 7th place in an index that has been led by Iceland since 2008.
Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Austria and Singapore, which this year rose three places and overtook Portugal, are the other countries at the top of the index.
At the opposite end are Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Global Peace Index, currently in its 17th edition, makes an annual analysis on peace trends, the economic value and how to develop peaceful societies, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators in three domains: the level of security and social protection, the dimension of ongoing domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarisation.
Portugal stands out in this last domain, in which it rose from 8th to 4th place, behind Iceland, Malaysia and Hungary.
The area of militarisation has also improved at a global level, with all regions registering reductions since 2008.
The Global Peace Index, which covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population, recorded an average deterioration in world peace with 84 countries improving and 79 worsening in 2022.
According to the report, over the past 15 years the world has become less peaceful and countries’ scores have fallen by an average of 5%.
LUSA