Nigeria has been ranked among the least peaceful countries in the world, ranking 144th out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index report as of December 2023.

In the 17th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI), produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), Nigeria scored 2.713 after Israel.

The report contained, “This report presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to date on trends in peace, its economic value, and how to develop peaceful societies.”

The report also included an analysis of current and potential conflicts in various countries as well as an analysis of its likely economic impact on the global economy.

“This year’s results found that the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated by 0.42 percent. This is the thirteenth deterioration in peacefulness in the last 15 years, with 84 countries improving and 79 deteriorating in peacefulness in 2022,” the institution said.

Iceland, however, remained the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. It was joined by Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and Austria.

Syria was reported to be the least peaceful country in the world for the eighth consecutive year, followed by Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“All these countries in both groups, other than Ireland, have always been ranked amongst the ten most peaceful or least peaceful countries, highlighting the stickiness of peacefulness at both ends of the Index.

“The war in Ukraine had a significant impact on global peacefulness, with Ukraine and Russia having the largest and fifth largest deteriorations in peacefulness respectively. Haiti, Mali, and Israel were the other countries with the largest deterioration.

“The largest improvement in peacefulness occurred in Libya for the second successive year, followed by Burundi, Oman, Côte d'Ivoire, and Afghanistan. Europe is the most peaceful region in the world and is home to seven of the ten most peaceful countries.

“The other three most peaceful countries are in the Asia-Pacific region. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remained the world’s least peaceful region. It is home to four of the ten least peaceful countries; however, it was also the region with the largest improvement in peace. The largest improvements occurred in MENA and North America. North America’s improvement was driven by improvements in Canada.

“In the MENA region Ongoing Conflict domain was the primary driver of the improvement, with terrorism impact, internal conflicts fought, and deaths from internal conflict all improving. The largest regional deterioration occurred in the Russia and Eurasia region.

“Although this was primarily driven by a deterioration in peacefulness in Ukraine and Russia, many other countries in the region also experienced significant falls in peacefulness. Of the 23 indicators in the GPI, 10 recorded improvements, eleven deteriorated, and 2 recorded no change.

“The Safety and Security and Ongoing Conflict domains both deteriorated, while the Militarisation domain recorded a slight improvement, continuing a long-term trend of improvement. The largest year-on-year deteriorations occurred in the external conflicts fought, deaths from internal conflict, and political instability indicators.

“The number of battle deaths had been rising even before the Ukraine conflict began, with the total number of conflict-related deaths rising by 45 percent between 2020 and 2021. On a more positive note, there were substantial improvements for several Safety and Security indicators, including terrorism impact and the homicide rate,” the report added.

It was stated that over the last 15 years, the world has become less peaceful, with the average country score deteriorating by five percent.

“Of the 163 countries in the GPI, 95 recorded deteriorations, while 66 recorded improvements and two recorded no change in score. Sixteen of the 23 GPI indicators deteriorated between 2008 and 2023 while eight improved.

“Two of the three GPI domains have deteriorated since 2008, with Ongoing Conflict deteriorating by 14 percent and Safety and Security deteriorating by 5.4 percent. Militarization was the only domain to improve.

“Some of the largest indicators of deterioration were for external conflicts fought, internal conflicts fought, number of refugees and IDPs, and violent demonstrations.

“There were 120 countries where the number of violent demonstrations increased over the past fifteen years, compared to just 20 where it fell.”

The GPI covers over 163 countries comprising 99.7 percent of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace across three domains which include; the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of militarisation.