The World's Most And Least Peaceful Countries

The 2017 Global Peace Index was released last week and it found that the world has actually become a slightly safer place during the past year. However, the divisive presidential election in the United States and its fallout has resulted in peace levels in North America deteriorating. 161 countries were analyzed in the index and the U.S. actually experienced the greatest decline in peace out of all them, plummeting 11 places to 114th most-peaceful country.

Iceland was named the world's most peaceful country with New Zealand and Portugal coming second and third respectively. Unsurprisingly, Syria is has the lowest peace rating worldwide. Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen also find themselves at the very bottom of the peace list. According to the index, global violence in 2016 came to $14.3 trillion in purchasing power parity terms, equivalent to 12.6 percent of the world's GDP or $1,953 for every person.