The 13th edition of the GPI ranked 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness.Nigeria is ranked 148 out of 163 countries in the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria sits among the top five least peaceful countries in the region alongside, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Somalia, and South Sudan. Produced by the Institute for Economicsand Peace (IEP), the GPI is the world's leading measure of global peacefulness.The 13th edition of the GPI ranked 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness.
It pointed out that while the world has become less peaceful over the last decade, there have been some notable improvements in peace.

The GPI also analyzed the potential long-term impact of climate change on levels of peacefulness. An estimated 971 million people live in areas with high or very high exposure to climate hazards.Nigeria ranked one of the least peaceful places on Earth - Global Peace IndexOf this number, 400 million or 41%, reside in countries with already low levels of peacefulness.

Climate change can indirectly increase the likelihood of violent conflict through its impacts on resource availability, livelihood security, and migration.Eight of the 25 least peaceful countries have 10% or more of their population in high climate hazard areas, amounting to103.7 million people at risk. These countries are South Sudan, Iraq, Libya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, North Korea, Nigeria, and Mexico. Nigeria is ranked 148 out of 163 countries in the world. Credit: visionofhumanity.orgAccording to the report, safety and security was sub-Saharan Africa’s least peaceful domain and recorded the largest deterioration last year. While 18 countries improved, 24 deteriorated.The likelihood of violent demonstrations deteriorated most significantly, followedby the impact of terrorism.

The incarceration rate rose on average last year, as did the homicide rate and perceptions of criminality.The report added that in a place like Nigeria, “experiences of sadness, stress, and worry are on the rise regardless of peace levels”. It stated:“In the past decade, 77 countries experienced increased sadness whilst only 20 decreased in experiences of sadness.

Of those that increased in sadness, 44 had a corresponding deterioration in peace level. “Of those that decreased in sadness, 60 percent recorded a corresponding increase in peacefulness. Less than half of the countries that improved in stress and worry levels had corresponding improvements in their GPI scores.”

The report, however, has some positive news for Nigeria saying the country recorded some improvements in deaths reduction."Although the number of countries suffering from internal conflicts increased, the number of deaths decreased due to a lower level of intensity in conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Nigeria,"the report stated." Nigeria’s improvement was based on a reduction in deaths from internal conflict.However, external conflicts fought escalated because of the government’ engagements in Mali and Somalia."

The report noted that the world is considerably less peaceful now than it was in 2008, with the average level of country peacefulness deteriorating by 3.78% over the last decade. It added that peacefulness had declined year-on-year for seven of the last 10 years.“Since 2008, 81 countries have becomeless peaceful, compared to 81 that have improved." It admitted that most of the deterioration in peacefulness over the last decade occurred in the MENA region. If this region was excluded from the analysis, the average level of peace in the world would only have deteriorated by 0.95%.“Even within the MENA region, the deterioration in the last decade was concentrated in a handful of countries, most notably Syria, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, and Bahrain, ”the report stated.

The region’s five largest country improvements were in Rwanda, The Gambia, Djibouti, Eswatini, and Somalia.Improvement in internal conflicts foughtboosted Somalia by one place in the 2019 GPI to rank 158, lifting it out of the five least peaceful countries in the world.

The five worst deteriorations occurred in Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Togo, Sierra Leone, and Namibia.

Source:Legit

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