Top 20: Most Peaceful Countries in the World in 2013

The Global Peace Index (GPI) is an attempt to measure the relative position of nations peacefulness. Countries covered by the GPI must either have a population of more than 1 million or a land area greater than 20,000 square kilometers.

20. Bhutan

Taktshang-Goemba-Bhutan

Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia located at the eastern end of the Himalayas. It is bordered to the north by China and to the south, east and west by India.

19. Qatar

Doha-Qatar

Qatar, is a sovereign Arab emirate, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf.

18. Portugal

Douro-Portugal

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a unitary semi-presidential republic. It is located in South-Western Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula, and it is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, being bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. Aside from continental Portugal, the Portuguese Republic holds sovereignty over the Atlantic archipelagos of Azores and Madeira, which are autonomous regions of Portugal.

17. Singapore

Singapour

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. The country’s territory consists of the lozenge-shaped main island, commonly referred to as Singapore Island in English and Pulau Ujong in Malay, and more than 60 significantly smaller islets.

16. Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands.

15. Germany

Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in western-central Europe. The country consists of 16 states. With 80.6 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state in the European Union.

14. Czech Republic

Prague-Czech-Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the north.

13. Slovenia

Lake-Bled-Slovenia

Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast.

12. Ireland

Cliffs-of-Moher-Ireland

Ireland, also commonly referred to as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, one of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom.

11. Norway

Trolltunga-Norway

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Scandinavian unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island. The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden, which is the longest uninterrupted border within both Scandinavia & Europe at large. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, and the Skagerrak Strait to the south, with Denmark on the other side.

10. Belgium

Brugges-Belgium

Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal monarchy in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU’s headquarters as well as those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium shares borders with France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

9. Sweden

Stockholm-Sweden

Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. Sweden borders Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.

8. Canada

Moraine-Lake-Canada

Canada is a country in North America consisting of 10 provinces and 3 territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Canada is the world’s second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the world’s longest land border shared by the same two countries.

7. Finland

Finland

Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden to the west, Norway to the north, Russia to the east, and Estonia to the south across the Gulf of Finland.

6. Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.

5. Switzerland

Braunwald-Switzerland

Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of 26 cantons. The country is situated in Western and Central Europe, where it is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

4. Austria

Karlskirche-Austria

Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west.

3. New Zealand

New-Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses – that of the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu – and numerous smaller islands.

2. Denmark

Denmark

Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom includes two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

1. Iceland

Seljalandfoss-Iceland

Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic island country marking the juncture between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Source Institute for Economics and Peace and Wikipedia