IEP Releases Global Peace Index 2025: India Climbs to 115th Place, Iceland Tops the list

In June 2025, Syndey (Australia) based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), a global think tank, released the 19th edition of Global Peace Index (GPI). India is ranked at 115th with the score of 2.229 in the 2025 index, improving by one position from 116th rank in 2024.

• Iceland (1) remains the most peaceful country with GPI score of 1.095 for 17th time in a row, while Russia (163) ranked as the least peaceful country in 2025 with the score of 3.441 for the first time.

Global Peace Index (GPI) 2025:

i.The 2025 GPI report assessed 163 countries, ranking them according to their level of peacefulness, covering 99.7% of the world’s population.

ii.The report used 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure the state of peace across three domains, including the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict, and the degree of Militarization.

iii.Scores on the GPI range from 1, indicating the most peaceful, to 5, indicating the least peaceful.

Top 5 in GPI 2025:

Bottom 5 in GPI 2025:

Key Findings:

i.The index shows that the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated by 0.36%. It is the 13th deterioration in peacefulness in the last 17 years, with 74 countries improving and 87 countries deteriorating in peacefulness.

ii.The top 5 countries, other than Switzerland, were also ranked among the ten most peaceful countries in the first year of the index.

• These countries have high Positive Peace ratings, underscoring the resilience created by high levels of Positive Peace.

iii.The other five countries in the top 10 include Singapore (ranked 6th), which is the only Asian nation among them, followed by Portugal (7th), Denmark (8th), Slovenia (9th), and Finland (10th).

iv.The index shows that India has performed better within the South Asian region compared to Bangladesh (ranked 123), Pakistan (ranked 144), and Afghanistan (ranked 158).

v.The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains the world’s least peaceful region for the tenth consecutive year, with four of the ten lowest-ranked countries on the 2025 GPI.

• South Asia, the second least peaceful region globally, experienced the largest regional decline in peacefulness. It was primarily driven by repressive measures in Bangladesh and by heightened civil unrest and escalating internal and cross-border tensions in Pakistan.

vi.Western and Central Europe is the most peaceful region in the world, home to eight of the ten most peaceful countries, although its peacefulness has been falling over for the last four years.

vii.Of the 23 GPI indicators, 8 recorded an improvement, 13 recorded a deterioration, and two recorded no change over 2024. The largest deterioration was on external conflicts fought, while the biggest improvement was on the perceptions of criminality indicator.

Positive Trends:

i.South America was the only region in the world to record an improvement in peacefulness last year. 7 of the 11 countries in the region improved, with the largest improvements occurring in Peru and Argentina.

ii.Azerbaijan (95) has shown the largest improvement by climbing 17 positions, with the score of 2.067.

Performance of India:

i.India has shown a 0.58% improvement in its level of peacefulness over 2024. It marks an upward trajectory from its rankings of 116 in 2024, 126 in 2023, 139 in 2020, and 141 in 2019.

ii.With Nine indicators improving, including perception of criminality, political stability, and terrorism impact, nine indicators remain the same and three indicators deteriorating.

About Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP):
Founder & Executive Chairman – Steve Killelea
Headquarters – Sydney, Australia
Established – 2007