new report says world is slightly more peaceful than it was year ago. report was made by organization called Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). The IEP has reported on world peace for past 10 years. Every year, it publishes document called Global Peace Index (GPI). This index ranks 163 countries and territories on their level of peacefulness. It also offers advice on how to develop peaceful societies. The latest report found that world became 0.28% more peaceful over past year. Iceland is most peaceful country in the world. It has been number one on GPI since 2008. The next four most peaceful countries are New Zealand, Portugal, Austria and Denmark.
The report says that in past year, 93 countries have become more peaceful, while 68 have got more violent. Researchers measured many things to work out level of peace in each country. They measured murder rate, how easy it was to get weapons, terrorism and terror attacks, and number of soldiers or police each country had. The IEP said Syria is least peaceful country in world. Syria has now been bottom of list for five years in row. The next four most violent countries are Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen. The chairman of IEP warned that: "The world is still [stuck] with conflict in Middle East, political turmoil in the US, refugee flows, and terrorism in Europe."
