(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat- Oman along with some of the GCC states continue to be ranked high in the 2018 Global Peace Index (GPI) released by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace.
Oman is ranked 73rd
overall (70th
in 2017) and fifth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Kuwait tops the index in MENA (overall rank 42), followed by the UAE (45th
overall), Qatar (56th
), Saudi Arabia (129th
) and Bahrain (130th
).However, five of the world's ten least peaceful countries are from the region (Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Sudan), with only Kuwait and UAE being ranked amongst the world's 50 most peaceful countries.
.
The GPI covers 99.7 per cent of the world's population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace using three thematic domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict, and degree of Militarisation.Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008.
It is joined at the top by New Zealand, Austria, Portugal and Denmark, all of which were ranked in top five in last year's GPI.There was also very little change at the bottom of the index. Syria remains the least peaceful country in the world, preceded by Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen.
The results of the 2018 GPI find that the global level of peace has deteriorated by 0.27 per cent in the last year, marking the fourth successive year of deteriorations. Peace in 92 countries deteriorated, while 71 countries improved.
The 2018 GPI reveals a world in which the tensions, conflicts, and crises that emerged in the past decade remain unresolved, especially in the Middle East, resulting in a gradual, sustained fall in peacefulness.
The report stated that four of the five largest deteriorations in the Middle East - Qatar, Iran, Oman, and Saudi Arabia - are a reflection of the deepening rivalry between predominantly Saudi Arabia and its allies and Iran and its allies.
This animosity has long been a factor in Syria as well. 'These tensions are playing out in deteriorations in the regional scores for political stability, neighbouring countries relations, and internal and external conflicts fought, the last of which deteriorated by 13 per cent over the year.'
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