 2023, remaining the least peaceful country in Europe, according to new data from the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).){kind=link}
Turkey was ranked 147th among 163 countries in the Global Peace Index 2023, remaining the least peaceful country in Europe, according to new data from the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).
The GPI is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness, presenting the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to date on trends in peace, its economic value and how to develop peaceful societies.
The report uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators and measures the state of peace across three domains: “the level of societal safety and security,” “the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict” and the “degree of Militarization.”
According to this year’s results, the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated by 0.42 percent, with 84 countries improving and 79 deteriorating in peacefulness in 2022.
Iceland remained the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008, and is joined at the top of the index by Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and Austria, while Afghanistan was the least peaceful country in the world for the eighth consecutive year, followed by Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Turkey, the only European country ranked outside the top half of the index, experienced a 1.7 percent decrease in its overall score this year, which was led by deteriorations in the “ongoing conflict” and “safety and security” domains.
The 2023 index is the least peaceful Turkey has been since the inception of the GPI in 2008, with the deterioration in peacefulness driven by the “deaths from external conflict” and the “incarceration rate” indicators, which rose 46.3 and 12.3 percent, respectively, according to the report.
The report showed that Turkey has also been one of the most active exporters of military technology in the past few years, especially drones, which led to its “weapons exports” indicator deteriorating.
Referring to Turkey as “an example of a rising middle power that has sought to expand its influence within its immediate region” and a “drone superpower,” the report said that the country is exporting drones to two dozen countries, including Ethiopia, Ukraine and Mali.
According to the report, the arms exports of Turkey, an influential power in the region due to its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia, grew by 72.7 percent between 2002 and 2021.
Turkey was ranked 132nd with $224.8 billion in “economic impact of violence,” which includes the direct and indirect costs of violence as well as an economic multiplier applied to the direct costs. This amount was $128.2 billion a year earlier.
