The Global Peace Index (GPI) ranking in 2024 shows a substantial reduction in Ghana’s level of peace.
The country now ranks 55th, falling from 51st in 2023 and even lower from 40th in 2022.
Sub-Saharan Regional Context
Ghana, which was formerly ranked as the second most peaceful nation in the area, is currently ranked 4th in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana is now ranked below Mauritius, Madagascar, and Botswana in the peace index.
The least peaceful countries in the Region are; Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
The report cited the ongoing crisis in South Sudan as reason for the deterioration in peace which has potentially impacted South Sudan’s economy.
Global Peace Index Report
The Global Peace Index (GPI), now in its 18th edition, is produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP). The index evaluates 163 countries based on their peacefulness, encompassing 99.7% of the world’s population.
How the GPI Measures Peace
The GPI assesses country’s peace across three key domains: Societal Safety and Security, Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict and Militarization. GPI further evaluates the three factors using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators.
Africa Peace Trends
On the broader African continent, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains the least peaceful region for the ninth consecutive year.
It recorded a small deterioration in peacefulness over the past year after several years of improvements, with the average GPI score deteriorating by 0.25 per cent.
Four of the ten least peaceful countries on the 2024 GPI are located in this region, with Sudan and Yemen ranking as the two least peaceful.
Yemen is the least peaceful country in the world in the 2024 GPI, followed by Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. This is the first year that Yemen has been ranked as the least peaceful country in the world, with the country having fallen 24 places in the rankings since the inception of the index.
Global Peace Trends
The 2024 GPI report shows that the world has become less peaceful in the past 17 years with substantial increases in political instability, number of conflicts, deaths from conflicts and violent demonstrations.
The index added that Europe is the most peaceful region in the world and is home to eight of the ten most peaceful countries. It has been the most peaceful region every year since the start of the GPI.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remained the world’s least peaceful region
However, the report also notes a positive development—a stronger commitment to UN peacekeeping efforts, which recorded the most significant improvement among GPI indicators.
Economic impact
The economic impact of violence on the global economy in 2023 was $19.1 trillion in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. The report says this is equivalent to 13.5 per cent of the world’s economic activity (gross world product) or $2,380 per person.
The GPI further reveals that expenditure on military and internal security accounted for over 74 per cent of the total economic impact of violence, with the economic impact of military spending alone accounting for $8.4 trillion in the past year.
