Looking For Peace? Don’t Live In The United States, Nonprofit Researchers Say

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that the United States has its share of issues, from strained race relations to heavy debate over gun ownership, not to mention violent crime in major cities and serious drug problems in many urban and rural areas. What might surprise people, however, is just how low the United States ranks when it comes to being a peaceful place to live. According to a nonprofit organization, the Institute for Economics and Peace, the United States might be one of the last first-world countries you want to go to if peace is what you’re after.

Iceland, the sparsely populated island in the midst of the North Atlantic, has retained its place as the most peaceful country in the world, the report says. In fact, six of the ten most peaceful countries are European countries. The institute released its Global Peace Index for 2015 this week, which ranks 162 nations in the world based on factors like the amount of reported violent crime, involvement in domestic conflicts, and the degree of militarization.

The report said that Denmark and Austria hold the second and third spots for peaceful places to live, making Europe the number one continent for peace. That’s helped by the fact that violence-torn Ukraine is now categorized with Russia and Eurasia.

“Europe maintained its position as the most peaceful region in the world, supported by a lack of domestic and external conflicts.”

War-torn Syria took first place as the least peaceful place to live. Iraq, Afghanistan, and South Sudan took second, third, and fourth places, respectively. The top ten least peaceful countries was rounded out by North Korea.

The United States’ northern neighbor, Canada, fared well on the list, coming in at number seven as the most peaceful country to live in. So, where did the United States actually place? In the bottom half of the rankings, a dismal 94th place. This is due to amount of militarization, homicides, and “fear of violence,” the report says. However, the U.S. fared better in 2015 than it did in 2014, when it was the 101st most peaceful place to live.

Ukraine actually suffered the second biggest drop in rating over the past year, with the only country who deteriorated worse being Libya, which was described as being “in a low level civil war” and in heavy dispute between Islamic and nationalist groups, the report stated.

How do you feel about the report? Does the United States’ ranking surprise you?

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