Positive Peace Index: Afghanistan Among World's Least Peaceful Societies

The report says Afghanistan scored 4.19 points on the Positive Peace Index and remains in the category of countries with“very low” Positive Peace, alongside conflict-affected states including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Somalia. Denmark retained the highest global ranking.

Unlike traditional security indexes that measure conflict or violence, the Positive Peace Index evaluates the institutions, policies and social conditions that enable societies to remain peaceful and resilient over the long term.

The Institute for Economics and Peace found that South Asia improved its overall Positive Peace score by 2.9% between 2015 and 2024, making it one of the world's fastest-improving regions. Sri Lanka recorded a 6.3% improvement, India 6%, Nepal 4.7%, Bhutan 4.1%, Bangladesh 3.5%, and Pakistan 0.9%.

Afghanistan was the only South Asian country to move in the opposite direction, with its Positive Peace score declining by 3.3% during the same period.

The report identifies the sharpest deterioration in Afghanistan in the areas of Open Political Environment and Free Flow of Information, two pillars considered essential for accountable governance and peaceful societies.

According to the report, press freedom in Afghanistan deteriorated by 78.8%, representing the largest decline in a single indicator across South Asia over the past decade.

The report also documents significant declines in several other governance and rights-related indicators, including:

Quality of information: down 23.4% Laws supporting equal treatment of all groups: down 25% Socio-economic group exclusion: down 20.4% Government effectiveness: down 13.2%

The institute says these indicators reflect weakening institutional capacity, shrinking civic space and reduced protections for fundamental rights.

The report's findings align with growing international concern over Afghanistan's human rights situation since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

The United Nations and international rights organizations have repeatedly documented sweeping restrictions on women and girls, including bans on secondary and higher education, employment in many sectors and participation in public life. International observers have also reported increasing restrictions on independent media, civil society organizations and freedom of expression.

The IEP says societies with stronger protections for rights, open political participation and access to reliable information consistently achieve higher levels of Positive Peace and are better equipped to withstand economic or security shocks.

The Institute for Economics and Peace defines Positive Peace as the“attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies.” Unlike Negative Peace, which measures the absence of violence or conflict, Positive Peace focuses on the underlying conditions that allow countries to achieve stability, development and resilience.

The index evaluates countries across eight core pillars:

Well-functioning government Sound business environment Equitable distribution of resources Acceptance of the rights of others Good relations with neighbors Free flow of information High levels of human capital Low levels of corruption

These pillars are measured through 24 indicators compiled from more than 20,000 statistical data points, covering approximately 99.7% of the world's population.

The 2026 report ranks Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands and Iceland as the world's strongest Positive Peace performers.

The institute says countries that achieved the greatest improvements in internal peace over the past decade also improved their Positive Peace scores at four times the global average, driven largely by stronger rule of law, lower corruption and greater social cohesion.

For Afghanistan, however, the report concludes that declining institutional quality, restrictions on political participation and reduced access to independent information have weakened the country's long-term prospects for sustainable peace, despite a reduction in large-scale armed conflict after 2021.

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