Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world for the 19th consecutive year, and by a significant margin.
For the last two decades, Iceland has been the most peaceful country on earth underpinned by the absence of a standing military, very low crime rates, and strong social cohesion. Following Iceland at the top of the 2026 GPI were New Zealand, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, Singapore, Finland and Japan. The Index ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness, covering 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.
Western and Central Europe remains the most peaceful region in the world, and is home to seven of the world’s 10 most peaceful countries. Despite an average regional deterioration of 0.6 per cent over the past year, the region continues to stand apart from the broader global trajectory, in which 99 of 163 countries deteriorated in peacefulness.
Overall, nine of the 10 countries that appear in the 2026 list also appeared in the top 10 in 2025, and the region that contains seven of them, Western and Central Europe, remains the most peaceful in the world despite recording its own deterioration, driven by a broad increase in defence expenditure across European NATO members, who raised spending by 20 per cent in real terms in 2025.
GPI Score: 1.489 | Change: ↑3 | Rank in 2025: 13
Japan rose three places to secure the final spot in the top 10, after a 1.5 per cent improvement on the 2026 GPI. The improvement was driven by a 6.3 per cent improvement in the Ongoing Conflict domain, with the intensity of internal conflict indicator recording a 25 per cent improvement. However, the Militarisation domain deteriorated by 3.6 per cent, reflecting Japan’s ongoing defence expansion. In 2025, Japan approved a record defence budget of US$55 billion and launched its Joint Operations Command to centralise control of all Self-Defense Forces branches, continuing a multi-year shift in the country’s security posture.
GPI Score: 1.478 | Change: ↑1 | Rank in 2024: 10
Finland ranks ninth globally, rising one place, continues to perform strongly across the Ongoing Conflict and Safety and Security domains and remains consistently among the top 10 most peaceful countries in the world.
GPI Score: 1.435 | Change: ↓1 | Rank in 2024: 7
Singapore recorded a marginal improvement over the past year, leaving its overall score essentially unchanged. Singapore is the highest-ranked country in Southeast Asia and continues to perform strongly across the Militarisation and Safety and Security domains. Per capita military expenditure in Singapore stands at US$9,853, among the highest in the world, reflecting the city-state’s significant investment in defence capability relative to its population.
GPI Score: 1.427 | Change: ↑1 | Rank in 2024: 8
Portugal rose one place to seventh. The country continues to perform consistently on all three GPI domains and remains one of the most stable performers in the Western and Central Europe region.
GPI Score: 1.421 | Change: ↓1 | Rank in 2025: 5
Austria ranks sixth globally, despite a slight deterioration over the past year. Of the 23 GPI indicators, the terrorism impact indicator recorded a deterioration, contributing to a worsening on the Safety and Security domain. Austria’s terrorism impact indicator recorded one of the largest country-level deteriorations on that indicator over the past year.
GPI Score: 1.371 | Change: ↓1 | Rank in 2024: 3
Ireland ranks fifth globally. Ireland recorded a marginal deterioration over the past year, but continues to perform strongly on the Ongoing Conflict domain, with very low levels of internal and external conflict.
GPI Score: 1.369 | Change: ↑2 | Rank in 2025: 6
Slovenia ranks fourth globally, rising two places. Slovenia recorded an improvement of 0.032 points in its overall score, driven by the Safety and Security domain. The country has improved steadily in the rankings over several years and continues to be one of the strongest performers within Western and Central Europe.
GPI Score: 1.363 | Change: ↓1 | Rank in 2025: 2
Switzerland ranks third globally. Switzerland recorded a marginal deterioration over the past year, with its score moving from 1.347 to 1.363. The Ongoing Conflict domain remained stable, and Switzerland continues to record among the strongest performances in the region on the Safety and Security domain.
GPI Score: 1.343 | Change: ↑2 | Rank in 2025: 3 …. ↔
New Zealand ranks second globally and remains the most peaceful country in the Asia-Pacific region, a position it has held for several years. New Zealand recorded a slight improvement in peacefulness over the past year, with its overall score improving by 0.4 per cent. The improvement was driven by the Militarisation domain, which improved by 3.3 per cent, owing to a decrease in weapons imports. New Zealand continues to rank among the top countries globally on the Ongoing Conflict and Safety and Security domains and has the lowest Ongoing Conflict score of any country in the Asia-Pacific region.
GPI Score: 1.161 | Change: ↔ | Rank in 2025: 1
In the 2026 Global Peace Index (GPI), Iceland advanced further, recording an improvement in peacefulness of two per cent over the past year. The Safety and Security domain improved by four per cent, driven by a 42.9 per cent improvement in the violent demonstrations indicator. The Ongoing Conflict domain remained unchanged, and the Militarisation domain improved marginally by 0.3 per cent.
Several of the ten most peaceful nations also rank among the world’s safest countries in 2025, based on their performance in the Societal Safety and Security domain of the Global Peace Index. Their high scores in the Safety and Security domain reflect low crime rates, political stability and effective governance, making them some of the world’s safest countries in 2025.
Download and read the 2026 Global Peace Index Report and view the Global Peace Index interactive map. To know more about how peace can be sustained in societies, read the 2024 Positive Peace Report (PPR).
For a year-on-year comparison, see our analysis of the Top 10 Most Peaceful Countries in the GPI 2025.
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