A calm domestic atmosphere, high social development as well as good relations with its neighbors are factors that put Norway at the very top on the Economists Intelligent Unit’s Global Peace Index.
06/06/2007 :: It is the first time a global peace index has been published and it has been welcomed by scholars and Nobel Peace Prize laureates alike. Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter, all support the index.
“Compiling and maintaining an Index of which countries are the most peaceful and publishing the results will undoubtedly make the factors and qualities that contribute to that status better known and will encourage people to foster them in their own countries”, says Nobel Laureate, Dalai Lama.
Scandinavian counties
The Scandinavian countries, along with New Zealand, Ireland and Japan, are all among the Top-10 on the index.
”It is clear that small, stable, and democratic countries are the most peaceful – 15 of the top 20 countries are western or central European democracies and most of them are members of the European Union”, says Editorial Director at the Economist Intelligence Unit, Robin Bew.
What’s assessed?
The 121 countries included in the study have been measures against 24 internal as well as external factors. The external factors aim to measure such as a country’s relationship with nearby countries, military expenditures and respect for Human Rights. The internal factors provide information on the level of education, crime rate and how trustworthy its inhabitants are.
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs