INSTITUTE FOR

ECONOMICS & PEACE

Building peace Overview:

through the power of
Research, Positive
research, insight and Peace & Case
partnerships Studies
The Institute for Economics
and Peace is an independent,
not-for-profit think tank
dedicated to understanding the
intersection between business,
peace and economics. It places
a special emphasis on metrics
to measure peace, operational
programs to improve peace, and
the economic benefits of peace.
Research
In the age of information, the value of sound,
independent, evidence-based research is ever
increasing.
IEP’s data-driven research provides policymakers,
researchers, the media and the interested public
with reliable insight and analysis.
Research Metrics Consulting
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2023 key highlights
The average level of global country
peacefulness has deteriorated by
84 countries became
more peaceful

0.42%
This is the 13th deterioration in the
79 countries deteriorated

Improvements were driven by changes in:

last 15 years.
• Terrorism Impact
• Political Terror Scale
• Military expenditure (% of GDP)

Deteriorations primarily driven by changes in:

• External Conflicts Fought
• Political Instability
• Deaths from Internal Conflict
10 most peaceful countries

ICELAND SINGAPORE
1 Rank change:
6 Rank change: 4

DENMARK
2 Rank change: 1
7 PORTUGAL
Rank change: 1

IRELAND SLOVENIA
3 Rank change: 1 8 Rank change: 4

NEW ZEALAND JAPAN

4 Rank change: 2
9 Rank change:

AUSTRIA SWITZERLAND
5 Rank change:
10 Rank change: 1
The 2023 Global Peace Index Indicators

6 10 7
measures of measures of measures of
ongoing domestic societal safety militarisation
and international and security
conflict
Including: Including: Including:
• intensity of organised • number of refugees • military
internal conflicts and IDPs expenditure
• relations with • impact of terrorism • number of armed
neighbouring countries • homicide service personnel
• number of deaths from and incarceration • ease of access to
conflict rates small weapons

17th edition, covers 99.7% world’s population

10 least peaceful countries

AFGHANISTAN RUSSIA
163 Rank change:
158 Rank change: 2

YEMEN UKRAINE
162 Rank change:
157 Rank change: 14

SYRIA SOMALIA
161 Rank change:
156 Rank change: 2

SOUTH SUDAN SUDAN

160 Rank change:
155 Rank change:

CONGO, DRC IRAQ

159 Rank change: 154 Rank change: 3
 Highlights 2023

● No improvement in terrorism last three years

● Number of countries recording terrorism deaths unchanged - range from 43 in

2020 to 42 in 2022

● 25 countries improved compared to 24 that deteriorated in 2022

● Sub-Saharan Africa recorded largest increase in deaths – rose by 8%

● Sahel the epicenter of terrorism – 43% of global terrorism deaths occur in the
region

● Deaths in MENA continues to decline – down 32% to 791 deaths in 2022

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 Ecological Threat Report
Ecological threats, violence and conflict are closely associated, forming
vicious cycles of violence

● The world’s 40 least peaceful countries will increase their population by

1.3 billion by 2050, representing 49% of the world’s population. They also
have the worst ecological threats.

● 750 million suffering from undernourishment and will only get worse.

● Countries with high societal resilience are likely to meet their ecological
challenges.

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 Resilience at Risk
Reoccurring, compounding, or high impact threats have the potential to disrupt or
break down a country's level of resilience.

Ecological health

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Positive Peace
What is Positive Peace?

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Positive Peace
provides the optimal
environment for
human potential to
flourish.
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High levels of Positive Peace lead to:

1
Stronger
resilience &
adaptability
2 Better
environmental
outcomes
3 Higher
measures of
wellbeing

4 Better
performance on
development
5 Higher per
capita income 6 Better business
environment

goals

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Changes in the Attitudes, Institutions and Structures of
Positive Peace, 2009–2020
The improvement in the PPI since 2009 was largely driven by structural improvements. Institutional
functioning has remained broadly the same over the period while attitudes have deteriorated.

peaceful

(NORMALISED TO 2009 = 100)

Less
1.0 0

AVERAGE SCORE 0 .975

Attitudes
Institutions
PPI Overall Score
Structures
0 .95
More
peaceful

0 .925

2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020

Source: IEP

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Percentage Change in PPI Indicators, 2009–2020
The individuals using the Internet indicator recorded the largest improvement, while the quality of information and
factionalised elites indicators recorded the largest deteriorations.
Individuals using the Internet (%of population)
Inequality-adjusted life expectancy
Healthy life expectancy (HALE)
International tourism
Gender inequality
X1: External intervention
Financial Institutions Index
GDP per capita
Public sector theft
Group grievance
Rule of law
Government e ectiveness Improvement
Regulatory quality: Estimate Deterioration
Control of corruption
Government openness and transparency
Access to public services
Exclusion by socio-economic group
Equality of opportunity
Law to support equal treatment of population segments
Research in R&D
Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET)
Freedom of the press
Factionalized elites
Quality of information
0.0% 10% 20% 30%
PERCENTAGE CHANGE
Source: IEP
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Using and Creating
Positive Peace
Global Positive Peace activities

Positive Peace training

For policy development, project design, fostering dialogue,
and training-the-trainer

Partners
Training undertaken in Uganda, Kenya, Colombia, Libya,
Thailand, Mexico, Cambodia, Australia and more

Trained over 4,500 IEP Ambassadors in 106 countries

Offering free Online Peace Academies

and the IEP Ambassador Program

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 How we can work with IEP
Project Design: For those seeking to design a social impact project or to
accelerate progress of an existing project. Participants will gain a deep
understand the framework, assess current contexts, and build or improve
projects, while simultaneously improving project design skills.

Policy Design: For executives, local government actors, or national-level policy

makers to increase cooperation and the implementation of systems-thinking.

Dialogue: For any group that wants to increase dialogue, stakeholder

engagement, create a common language around strengths and weaknesses
within the context, and design a shared approach for the future.

Train the trainers: For leaders in any industry, focused on understanding the
framework and improving ability to train others. to instruct others on the model.

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 Case study on project development: Peace911, Philippines
Objective: to improve critical local issues in the district of Paquibato, Davao City
Who: Davao City Advisory Committee on Peace and Development (DC PEACE-DEV)

Process:

1. Inclusive consultations, Panag-ambit, were held in the 14

barangays to understand needs.

2. Identifying needs: Fear of violence and hunger were the two

main challenges.

3. Designing systemic solutions using the Positive Peace

framework.

4. Continued consultations, education, and leadership

development for sustainability

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 Case study on project development: Peace911, Philippines
Outcomes:
Well functioning governance: A monthly caravan that was composed of city agencies
responsible for health, agriculture, legal services, social services, education,
cooperatives, civil registry, land transportation, etc. These city agencies worked actively
with the local officials to provide for the people.
High levels of Human Capital and Sound Business Environment: training and setting up
businesses in container gardening. Women grouped together to sell rice in their
neighbourhood, starting in the barangays where women had to walk a great distance to
buy the staple at prices higher than usual.

Free Flow of Information: A hotline that anybody could call for assistance, or request
information was also opened. Slowly, calls on the hotline were coming in from rebels.
Eventually 92 men and women surrendered, many bringing their firearms with them.

Longevity: Each barangay formed a Barangay Peace 911 as the decision-making body for local
peace concerns.

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Case study on project development: Jude Kukuba

Where: Kakuba Primary School, Busedde, Uganda

Objectives: to improve student conditions, enrolment

rates, and academic performance.
Outputs:
High Levels of Human Capital: Training community members in
vocational skills

Low Levels of Corruption: Labelling and monitoring school materials and

resources. Shared responsibility, students, parents, teachers

Equitable Distribution of Resources: Implementing lunch at school (porridge program),

planting fruit trees, shared learning aids

Acceptance of the Rights of Others: Distribution of female hygiene products reduced

absenteeism among girls

Free Flow of Information: Partnering with local radio station Busoga 90.6 FM to update
community members each stage of the project

Research | Consulting | Training

 Positive
Outcomes Peace in practice
: Kakuba Literacy– Kakuba Literacy
Project, Project, Uganda
Uganda
Pupil enrolment

Pupil performance
Lower Grades
grades 1&2
Lower
Grades grades
1&2
70%
62%
30% 38%

Before project After project

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Get involved
today
IEP Ambassador Program

Join a global network of

dedicated peacebuilders

Attend exclusive online and in-

person events
15
COHORTS TRAINED
4.6k
IEP AMBASSADORS
GLOBALLY

Gain concrete knowledge,

skills and resources that will
allow you to communicate and
activate IEP’s innovative peace
research

Contribute to building a more

106
COUNTRY REACH
139
AVG NO. OF PEOPLE
IMPACTED BY A SINGLE
peaceful world AMBASSADOR’S ACTIONS

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Get involved with IEP
@GlobPeaceIndex

GlobalPeaceIndex

IEP Ambassador Positive Peace

Program Trainings

@GlobalPeaceIndex

Online

Strategic IEP Peace visionofhumanity.org

Partnerships Academy

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