Kiwiblog

The 2011 Global Peace Index was released yesterday. New Zealand has been dubbed the most peaceful country for the last couple of years, but this year in 2nd place behind Iceland. On the plus side our economy didn’t disintegrate like their one did, so I’m still pretty happy here. The top ten countries are:

1. Iceland
2. NZ
3. Japan
4. Denmark
5. Czech Republic
6. Austria
7. Finland
8. Canada
9. Norway
10. Slovenia

That’s a pretty good ratng for Slovenia considering their history of formerly being in Yugoslavia.

The bottom 10 are:

1. Somalia
2. Iraq
3. Sudan
4. Afghanistan
5. North Korea
6. Congo
7. Russia
8. Pakistan
9. Israel
10. Central African Republic

They Index says NZ slipped into 2nd place due to a rise in the number of police officers (they call them internal security officers) and prison population.  Some would argue that makes us more peaceful! Interesting it seems we have also had an increase in the number of external conflicts – maybe they mean the SAS back to Afghanistan.

The biggest mover was Libya who dropped 83 places to No 143. No surprise there.

For the second year in a row, NZ has topped the Global Peace Index. I blogged the 2009 index here.

The 2010 index is here, and the top ten are:

1. New Zealand (1 in 2009)
2. Iceland (4)
3. Japan (7)
4. Austria (5)
5. Norway(3)
6. Ireland
7. Denmark (2)
8. Luxembourg
9. Finland (9)
10. Sweden (6)

The bottom ten are:

1. Iraq (1)
2. Somalia (3)
3. Afghanistan (2)
4. Sudan (5)
5. Pakistan (8)
6. Israel (4)
7. Russia (9)
8. Georgia
9. Chad (7)
10. Congo (6)

The detailed scores on the 33 seperate factors, for NZ, can be viewed here.

The 2009 Global Peace Index is out, and NZ leads the world!

The top ten is:

1. New Zealand
2. Denmark
3. Norway
4. Iceland
5. Austria
6. Sweden
7. Japan
8. Canada
9. Finland
10. Slovenia

Interesting how many of these top ten have violent pasts – Austria and Japan, and Slovenia more recently.

The bottom 10 are:

1. Iraq
2. Afghanistan
3. Somalia
4. Israel
5. Sudan
6. Congo
7. Chad
8. Pakistan
9. Russia
10. Zimbabwe

In 2008 NZ was 4th, so an improvement.  The authors say:

New Zealand is ranked the nation most at peace of the 144 ranked in the 2009 Global Peace Index. Its rise from 3rd position in 2008 is partly explained by an increase in the score for political stability, following the election of a new coalition government in November 2008. The centre-right National Party has a strong popular mandate and a robust parliamentary majority by New Zealand’s standards, putting the new prime minister, John Key, in a good position to push through his agenda. The rise to first position is also related to the fall of Iceland from the top spot last year, which reflects the deterioration in its indicators of political stability, the likelihood of violent demonstrations and perceived criminality in the wake of the banking collapse that engulfed the economy in September.

They also cite our good relations with Australia. I wonder if another under-arm incident would lower our ranking

Vision of Humanity has NZ in 4th place in their 2008 Global Peace Index.

Ahead of us are Iceland, Denmark and Norway. Now this gives us a real opportunity as they are all naval neighbours.

If we can arrange for a great big naval battle between Iceland, Denmark and Norway then we’ll rise into 1st place. My thinking is to get Norway to sink an anti whaling boat full of protesting Danes. Denmark will respond.

Then Iceland, with links to both Norway and Denmark will try and intervene to stop the conflict, but they get hit accidentally, and then enter the conflict themselves.

Hence in 2009 we should top the index.