Peace Pays

Tourists and locals alike relax in Iceland's famous blue lagoon -- The world's most peaceful country according to the 2011 GPI.

The Institute for Economics and Peace just released their 2011 Global Peace Index. The world’s leading measure of global peacefulness, this index produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace takes looks at 23 indicators of peace in 153 countries.
For the third year now, the world has grown less peaceful.
Interestingly enough the most dramatic changes in this year’s peace index are due to internal conflict—between citizens and their governments—and not warfare between countries. The impact of ‘Arab Spring’ can be seen in the Egypt, Bahrain and Libya, who all saw a drop in their rankings. Libya’s was the most drastic since the survey has been conducted, falling a record 83 places.

One of the strongest takeaways is the cost of conflict. In the last year violence has cost the global economy US$8.12 trillion! If the world had been even 25% less violent during the past five years, it would have resulted in a savings of US$9.4 trillion!

Watch the video below, to see just how much change that could buy:

Explore more of this fascinating study here.

What stands out most to you? What’s most surprising?