Qatar is the most peaceful country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The country topped in the region and ranked 16th globally, according to Global Peace Index 2009 (GPI) released by the US-based Institute for Economics and Peace. Qatar scored 1.392 points in the index that used various indicators to calculate the relative peacefulness of 144 countries. Scoring 1.520 points, Oman was ranked as the second (21st globally) most peaceful country in the region. The UAE and Kuwait stood third (40 globally) and fourth (42 globally) place respectively in the region. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, the index is composed of 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from respected sources, which combine internal and external factors ranging from a nation’s level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights. These indicators were selected by an international panel of experts including academics and leaders of peace institutions. In addition, the index measures peace measurements, internally, based on a number of criteria, which include the number of homicides, the proportion of prisoners, the availability of weapons and the level of the organised crime per hundred thousand people. The external indicators include the size of the army, the export and import of arms, the number of people killed in battles, contributions to the efforts of the UN peace-keeping operations and relations with neighbouring countries. Tunisia was at the fifth position in MENA (44th globally), Libya sixth (46 globally), Egypt seventh(54 globally), followed by Morocco in the eighth position (63rd globally), Jordan on the ninth (64th globally) Bahrain on tenth (69th globally), Syria on the eleventh (92nd globally), Iran on the twelfth and Saudi Arabia on the thirteenth position (104th globally). At the bottom of the list are Sudan (140th globally), Somalia (142nd) with Iraq occupying the last position among 144 countries. New Zealand has been ranked as the most peaceful country in the world followed by Denmark and Norway. The GPI indicates small and stable countries are consistently ranked higher; 14 of the top 20 countries are in the West or belong to central Europe. All the five Scandinavian countriesd are in the top ten of this year’s GPI. The US has climbed six places from last year to the 83rd position with the potential for terrorists acts factored in. A significant negative for US peace scores is the fact that the country still jails a higher proportion of its population than any other country in the index. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=June2009&file=Local_News200906214522.xml

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