Taiwan ranked 40th most peaceful country in a 'less stable' world

Taipei, June 26 (CNA) Taiwan has been ranked as the 40th most peaceful country in a world that has become "less stable," with the highest number of major conflicts since the end of World War II recorded, according to the 2025 Global Peace Index (GPI) published by the Institute for Economics and Peace.

In the 19th edition of the annual report by the Sydney-headquartered think tank on the state of peace around the world, Taiwan placed 40th out of 163 countries and territories, which account for 99.7 percent of the world's population.

In 2024, Taiwan was placed 38th, the think tank's website shows.

Among the 23 indicators the institute used to compile the index, which covers factors within a country, such as homicide and incarceration rates, as well as ongoing conflicts and the degree of militarization, Taiwan had the top score in eight, including political terror scale, terrorism impact and both external and internal conflicts fought.

However, Taiwan received the second worst score in relations with neighboring countries, which was categorized as "open conflicts with violence and protests," according to the 2025 GPI report.

South Korea and China also have the same score, while North Korea and Russia were rated worse, or "very aggressive."

Russia replaced Yemen to become the least peaceful country in the 2025 GPI report, while Iceland keeps the top ranking it received since the GPI's inception in 2008 as the most peaceful country in the world.

In the Asia-Pacific, New Zealand has the best global ranking -- third -- followed by Singapore (sixth), Japan (12th), Malaysia (13th), Australia (18th), Mongolia (37th), Vietnam (38th) and South Korea (41st).

"The world has become less stable over the past 18 years with substantial increases in political instability, number of conflicts, deaths from conflict, and geopolitical fragmentation," the think tank said.

The indicator of neighboring countries relations "deteriorated by 13 percent from 2008 to 2025," the think tank said, noting that worsened ties have been recorded in 59 countries, while only 19 saw improvements.

It is part of a key finding of the 2025 report, which said levels of geopolitical fragmentation have exceeded "those seen during the Cold War."

The largest deterioration over the past year, according to the report, was in external conflicts fought, followed by deaths from internal conflict and military expenditure.

The number of active conflicts between countries or those between a state and a non-state armed group has risen to 59 -- the highest since the end of World War II -- and "they are also becoming unwinnable and increasingly expensive," according to the report released on June 18.

"The world is at an inflection point," the think tank said, "yet global investment in conflict prevention have (sic) dramatically reduced."

Indonesia ranked 49th on the Global Peace Index, China 98th, India 115th, the United States 128th, Brazil 130th, Pakistan 144th and Nigeria 148th.