[swank]

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6704767.stm

1 Norway
2 New Zealand
3 Denmark
4 Ireland
5 Japan

A study has ranked Norway as the most peaceful country and Iraq as the least in a survey of 121 countries.
The Global Peace Index, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, looked at 24 factors to determine how peaceful each country was.

It places the US at 96th on the list and the UK at 49th, while New Zealand ranks second and Japan fifth.

The authors say it is the first attempt to produce such a wide-ranging league table of how peaceful countries are.

Factors examined by the authors include levels of violence and organised crime within the country and military expenditure.

The survey has been backed by the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter and US economist Joseph Stiglitz, who are all Nobel prize laureates.

It is also supported by Queen Noor of Jordan.

'Wake-up call'

Scandinavian and other European countries generally performed well in the survey.


TOP FIVE COUNTRIES
1 Norway
2 New Zealand
3 Denmark
4 Ireland
5 Japan

But Britain's ranking comes partly from its involvement in Iraq and other conflicts.

The United States is 96th - between Yemen and Iran - again because of such things as its military spending, its involvement in Iraq, violent crime at home, and a high prison population.

The survey also places Russia and Israel at the wrong end of the scale - 118th and 119th respectively.

The brainchild of Steve Killelea, an Australian entrepreneur, the survey is meant to inform governments, international organisations, and campaign groups.

Mr Killelea said: "This is a wake-up call for leaders around the globe. Countries need to become more peaceful to solve the major challenges that the world faces - from climate change to decreasing biodiversity.


BOTTOM FIVE COUNTRIES
117 Nigeria
118 Russia
119 Israel
120 Sudan
121 Iraq

"There is also a strong case for the world becoming more peaceful and it is now crucial for world leaders and business to take a lead," he said.

He added that the high positions of Germany, which ranked 12th, and Japan revealed that "there can be light at the end of what may seem at the moment like a very dark tunnel."

The study is published just before the G8 summit of leading countries next week.

The authors say they are trying to supplant what they call some "woolly" definitions of peace with a scientific approach, that includes levels of violent crime, political instability, and a country's relations with its neighbours.

But questions have been raised over the way some of these factors are brought together.

The authors themselves acknowledge that there is a lack of data in many countries.

What impact the new survey will have is unclear. The authors also argue that some countries - like Japan - may benefit from sheltering under the US military umbrella.

[jdbob]

I wouldn't mind being able to move up from 96th to 2nd place. I guess on the bright side the US does have the 37th best health care system in the world :wah

[Nathan]

96th?! Don't tell King George. He'll send somebody to beat up those people who did the study!:laugh

[StevieD]

Very interesting.....

[Jenny & Mark]

Canada ranks 8th. Does our proximity to King George affect it?

Agree, though. Very interesting...

[liamnrach]

Good and interesting post.....

This just increases our desire to move from the UK!! 49th to 2nd sounds very good to us aswell:nice1

Cheers Swank

Liam n Rach:p

[Croft]

Surprised at Norway being first when Military Expenditure is taken into account, then again they have a very impressive state of preparedness by dint of a set of laws which make it very cheap for the Norwegian government to requisition equipment even for peacetime exercises (though of course with compensation). Many ships built in Norway are funded partly by the Government and have a specific wartime role, eg ferries which are already pre-wired to be converted into hospital ships, with extra large lifts for casualties and strengthened decks for helicopters. Their Reserves (which are far cheaper than regulars) are also large, well equipped and well organised.

Kind of shows you that while on the face of it Norway has a relatively low military expenditure (which therefore raises its 'peace' ranking), in fact they are more capable of defending themselves, which I'm afraid is far more than can be said of NZ which in the event of any threat would have to rely very much on the Five Power Defence Agreement, which of course was designed very much to defend Malaysia and Singapore.

Then again there is currently no direct threat to NZ, while Norway could arguably be getting nervous with a resurgent Russia and the potential for conflict over energy resources in the far North. Unfortunately, like all other drains on the public purse, it takes rather a long time to build up forces and in today's uncertain world I'm not sure NZ has taken the right decision to scale back so much. Australia in fact is one of the few countries increasing Defence expenditure as it faces potential conflict on it doorstep.

[Lupin]

Very interesting.

The site that the BBC article got it's stats from is here

http://www.visionofhumanity.com/index.php

and is even more fascinating :)

[Lupin]

New Zealand's lofty position in the Global Peace Index partly reflects its lack of internal and external conflicts and its very good relations with neighbouring countries, namely Australia and fellow member states of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF, the main regional body). Diplomatic and economic links with Australia, with which it shares a cultural and linguistic heritage, have been underpinned since 1983 by the Closer Economic Relations (CER) agreement. New Zealand's political scene is stable and measures of safety and security such as the level of violent crime, the likelihood of violent demonstrations and the number of homicides receive very low scores. However, violent crime is higher than in Norway and the number of jailed population is considerably higher than the four Nordic nations surveyed.

New Zealand's military expenditure as a percentage of GDP is low, and notably lower than that that of Australia. Defence and regional security issues have been contentious since 1985, when the Labour government declared New Zealand nuclear-free, leading the US to suspend the operation of the tripartite Australia-New Zealand-United States (ANZUS) Treaty. New Zealand's ability to play a security role within the Pacific region was nevertheless demonstrated in July 2003, when it sent 35 policemen and 230 military personnel to the Solomon Islands as part of a 2,225-strong Australian-led peacekeeping force. The intervention was approved by the governments of the Solomon Islands and other members of the PIF. Although New Zealand committed troops to the US-led war against terrorism in Afghanistan in late 2001, the government did not support the US-led war in Iraq in 2003, which upset bilateral relations.

From the above site.

[sweetpea]

Interesting. I have to admit, it doesn't always seem so peaceful here, with Linton Army Camp down the road, and the military driving Apc's down palmy streets on their way to exercises. Not to mention bombing practice. But there is something wonderful about living in a country that doesn't pick fights with other countries just because it can :)