Malaysia Ranks As 18th Most Peaceful Country In The World By Global Peace Index
For the Asia-Pacific region, Malaysia moved up one spot to become the fourth most peaceful country out of 19 others.
By Wayne Garreth — 31 Oct 2022, 10:56 AM
The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) recently published the 16th edition of their Global Peace Index (GPI), where Malaysia ranked as the 18th most peaceful country in the world
The study covers a total of 163 countries, which comprise of 99.7% of the world's population.
While 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources are used, the overall state of peace is measured across three domains: the level of societal safety and security, the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarisation.
Top 25 most peaceful countries in the world, as listed in the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2022.
Image via Global Peace Index 2022This year's results found that the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated by 0.3%, despite Malaysia's climb in the ranks overall
"In the past 14 years, peacefulness has fallen, with the average country score deteriorating by 3.2%," read the report.
While the elements of ongoing conflict and safety and security have each continued deteriorating since 2008, the factor of militarisation was the only domain to improve, with Malaysia being one of the main contributors of this statistic.
47 of the recorded nations saw deteriorations in their 'internal conflicts fought' score, versus 30 in which indicated an improvement. Among these countries included Malaysia, who ranked fifth most peaceful for the militarisation domain, with a reduction in score of 0.061. This climb sees a slight improvement, with Malaysia having placed sixth in 2021.
As for its placement in the Asia-Pacific region, Malaysia rose in ranking to place fourth most peaceful nation, just behind New Zealand, Singapore, and Japan
The overall Asia-Pacific region recorded a slight improvement in peacefulness for the 2022 GPI, its first in three years.
New Zealand retained the title of most peaceful country in the region and second most peaceful country in the world for 2022, while Singapore remained the second most peaceful country for the region, and most peaceful Southeast Asian country, for the third year in a row.
As for other Asia-Pacific countries, the Philippines recorded the largest improvement in peacefulness out of all 19 nations in the region, while Myanmar recorded the largest deterioration overall, with North Korea ranking at the bottom.
Topping the GPI chart, Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world for the 15th consecutive year in a row
Rounding off the top five are New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, and Austria respectively — with four of the top five coming from the European region.
As for the top five least peaceful countries in the world, Afghanistan ranks at the top for the fifth year in a row, followed by Yemen, Syria, Russia, and South Sudan respectively.
However, Kazakhstan recorded the biggest drop in ranking when compared to its 2021 ranking, going from 68 to 97, dropping 29 spots.
And while the 2022 rankings saw most countries deplete in their level of peacefulness for a record-low, Malaysia's place at 18th show's a new high for the country since 2020.
Click here to read the full GPI Report by IEP.
