Norway rated most peaceful nation. That’s what the BBC article and the Global Peace Index says. According to these, Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland and Japan are ranked the world’s top five peaceful countries. The whole list can be found on the Vision of Humanity website which looks like a nice initiative that just maybe could play a part in turning world peace into reality.
It is ironic how a few of the top countries, like Germany (ranked 12th), Japan (5th) and Ireland (4th), have had a violent past. Maybe massive, bloody wars, coupled with a decisive end, are what it takes to make people value peace. With no end in sight to the current conflicts, sadly I don’t see the same thing happening in Iraq or all the other areas of conflict.
Interestingly (in a bad way), Pakistan is ranked at 115, just six positions above Iraq, and comes in last in the Asia and Australia region. I’ve gone from the 5th most peaceful place to the 6th least peaceful in just 4 years. That’s not an encouraging thought.
3 thoughts on “Global peace index”
Have you noticed how Japan changed after the second world war? Talk about Germany and Ireland. This seems to be an established fact in the modern world history that more atrocities you commit and suffer, the more you tend to be peaceful in the coming decades. Not sure how this philosophy will work in Indo-Pak where bitterness lies beyond nationalism and finds its roots in religion.
N Ireland was as divided as Palestine/Israel on religion. Still is in most areas, but peace seems to have made an entrance. Just shows it is possible.
On “Norway” being the most peaceful nation:
Yeah, sure. But how much credit is due here really? Afterall, they’re one of the most oil-rich nations in the world. They’re also a very, very small nation. (The oil-wealth per capita is hilariously high.)
So when you’ve got a bunch of rich, fat, happy people who can afford to pay for incomparable social-services, who needs conflict?
The Norwegians pride themselves on being moral, rational and “above all that petty fighting”. But let’s be clear: They’re rich. Insanely rich.
It’s not exactly a model that can be replicated.
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