Peaceful Portugal Triumphs Again In Global Peace Index

The recently published Global Peace Index 2018 again rates Portugal as one of the planet’s most peaceful countries.

In an increasingly troubled world, finding a peaceful place to live seems like a challenge at best and impossible at worst. The Global Peace Index covers almost all the entire world population, and uses 23 quantitative and qualitative indexes to calculate its results based on Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict, Societal Safety and Security and Militarisation. Whilst the results of the 2018 study show world peacefulness in decline for the fourth year running, Portugal was placed fourth in the world for its peaceful environment.

Iceland topped the list of 163 independent states , followed by New Zealand, Austria, Portugal and Denmark, with 92 of the countries deteriorating and just 71 improving their peacefulness. The study also shows the crises, tensions and conflicts seen over the past 10 years are still unresolved, with the Middle East holding a majority. In the bigger, regional picture, the four most peaceful regions of Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and South America all deteriorated, with South America the worst affected in the Safety and Security sector.

Unsurprisingly, Syria is the world’s least peaceful state, followed by Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Somalia, and Europe is in decline thanks to its internal conflicts and relations with its neighbours. As well as its success in the peacefulness index, Portugal was highly rated in the latest Expat Explorer survey, with the majority of expat respondents citing its healthy lifestyle. Although another recent survey showed almost half of Portuguese students couldn’t find their country on a world map, expats, especially those from the UK, are having no difficulty at all in finding and choosing it as their perfect hideaway for living, working or retiring.