Iceland remains the world’s most peaceful country in 2025, continuing a streak it has held since 2008.
It is closely followed by Ireland, New Zealand, Austria and Switzerland, according to the latest Global Peace Index issued by the Institute for Economics & Peace.
These nations consistently score highly in societal safety, limited militarisation, and absence of ongoing conflict—commonly attributed to strong governance, social trust, and institutional resilience, the report said.
In 2025, Sri Lanka is ranked 97th out of 163 countries, with a Global Peace Index score identified in third-party datasets. The country has moved up two places from the previous year.
Sri Lanka ranked as the third most peaceful country in South Asia, behind Bhutan and Nepal.
The 2025 GPI finds that the world became less peaceful for the 13th time in the last 17 years, with the average level of country peacefulness deteriorating by 0.36 per cent over the prior year.
This is the sixth consecutive year that global peacefulness has deteriorated, the report said. (Newswire)
