Published on January 5th, 2015 | by Natural Awakenings Publishing Corp.

Living Together, 2014 Global Peace Index

The world has become less peaceful over the last seven years, according to the 2014 Global Peace Index. It measures peace in 162 countries according to 22 indicators that gauge the absence of violence or the fear of violence. This is the seventh year the index has been produced.

Results from the 2014 Global Peace Index show that since 2008, 111 countries have deteriorated in levels of peace, while only 51 increased. Europe retains its position as the most peaceful region, with 14 of the top 20 most peaceful countries. The world has become significantly less peaceful over the last year, mainly due to a rise in terrorist activity, the number of conflicts fought and the number of refugees and displaced people.

As for the human toll, 500 million people live in countries at risk of instability and conflict, 200 million of whom live below the poverty line, and the global economic impact of violence reached $9.8 trillion last year, equal to twice the total gross domestic product of Africa.

Visit VisionOfHumanity.org to explore the interactive peace map and download the report. Watch a video at Tinyurl.com/GlobalPeaceVideo.