Peacefulness in Europe: Key insights from the Global Peace Index

Europe remains the most peaceful region in the world in the Global Peace Index 2024, home to seven of the ten most peaceful countries. Of the 36 countries in the region, 13 improved and 23 deteriorated in peacefulness. The primary driver of this fall in peacefulness was a deterioration in the Militarisation domain. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has led to many European countries reassessing their level of military spending and general combat readiness, with 30 of the 39 European countries recording a deterioration on this domain over the past year. The Ongoing Conflict and Safety and Security domains both improved slightly.

Iceland remains the most peaceful country in Europe and the world in the 2024 GPI. The gap in peacefulness between Iceland and Ireland, the first two countries in the 2024 GPI is the same size as the gap between the second and 15th ranked countries. 

Meanwhile, Türkiye is the least peaceful country in Europe, a position that it has held since the inception of the index. This fall in peacefulness has been driven by the country’s increasing militarisation, reflected in the weapons imports and exports indicators, and higher military expenditure (as a percentage of GDP). Türkiye is now one of the largest ‘middle power’ weapons exporters in the world, and now exports unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to many countries, including in the conflict-prone Central Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa.  

Sweden experienced the largest deterioration in peacefulness in Europe and is now ranked 39th overall, a fall of 22 places since the index began in 2008. Sweden recorded its lowest level of peacefulness since the inception of the index, driven by deteriorations on the Militarisation and Ongoing Conflict domains. The significant deterioration in the Ongoing Conflict domain was driven by a steep increase in deaths from internal conflict as a result of spreading gang violence in Sweden. The deterioration in Militarisation was driven by increases in the weapons imports and exports, military expenditure (percentage of GDP), and nuclear and heavy weapons indicators, all of which have deteriorated in response to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.  

While Russia and Ukraine are part of the Russia and Eurasia region, the conflict has had serious global repercussions, particularly in Europe. Of the five countries in Europe with the largest deteriorations in peacefulness in 2023, three share a border with either Ukraine or Russia. These countries largely had deteriorations on the political instability and neighbouring countries relations indicator. 

Further reading:

• Amid talk of victory & forced peace, casualties keep rising in Ukraine war
• Peacefulness in the Americas: Key insights from the 2024 Global Peace Index