LONDON: Five of the 10 least peaceful countries globally are in the Arab world, according to the Global Peace Index 2023, which nonetheless said the Middle East and North Africa recorded some of the largest improvements in security and peace. Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Iraq were ranked 162, 161, 156, 155 and 154 respectively out of 163 countries. But Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan scored “high” in terms of peace, ranking 21, 35, 48 and 62 respectively. The top three spots were held by Iceland, Denmark and Ireland respectively. The 17th edition of the GPI, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, is considered the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. The rankings are based on data analysis of peace, conflict and economic security metrics for 99.7 percent of the world’s population. The 2023 GPI found that overall, the world became less peaceful for the 13th time in the last 15 years, with the Ukraine conflict driving increasing levels of insecurity, and conflict-related deaths growing by 96 percent. The GPI said nationally, the largest improvements in peacefulness worldwide took place in Libya for the second year running, followed by Burundi, Oman, Cote d’Ivoire and Afghanistan. Three major metrics were combined to produce a GPI score: ongoing conflict, safety and security, and militarization. In the MENA region, a notable reduction in the number of wars led to major improvements in the “ongoing conflict” and “militarization” metrics. “Terrorism impact”, “internal conflicts fought” and “deaths from internal conflict” also saw improvements in the region. Israel “experienced the largest deterioration in peacefulness in the MENA region, falling eight places to 143rd in the GPI,” the report said, adding that the country’s overall peacefulness figure had not fallen so low since 2010. Qatar maintained its rank as the most peaceful country in the region, a position it has held since 2008. Yemen’s status as the least peaceful country in the Arab world was recorded for the third consecutive year, owing to its civil war. Oman jumped 18 spots annually in its ranking at 48, with the GPI crediting its “militarization” data, which tracks metrics including weapons imports and military expenditure. The GPI highlighted a major shift in terrorism trends away from the MENA region, which until 2015 recorded the most deaths from terrorism. “In the last eight years, the epicenter of terrorism has shifted out of South Asia and MENA and into sub-Saharan Africa and especially the Sahel,” the report said. The full rankings for Arab countries in the 2023 GPI are: Qatar (21), Kuwait (35), Oman (48), Jordan (62), the UAE (75), Tunisia (81), Morocco (84), Algeria (96), Bahrain (108), Djibouti (112), Mauritania (114), Saudi Arabia (119), Egypt (121), Palestine (134), Lebanon (135), Libya (137), Iraq (154), Sudan (155), Somalia (156), Syria (161) and Yemen (162).