Namibia improves on peace index

ELLANIE SMITWINDHOEKNamibia has moved up eight places on the Global Peace Index for 2020, making it one of the ten most peaceful countries in sub-Saharan Africa.The index measures the peacefulness of 163 countries with a range of measures, including the level of violent crimes and homicide rate, military spending, deaths from conflict and terrorism, as well as an estimated economic cost of violence.The results revealed that peace has deteriorated in 80 countries while improving in 81.Namibia was ranked 53rd globally with an overall score of 1.861.The country moved up eight places from last year. Among sub-Saharan countries Namibia was ranked eighth. New era of uncertaintyFor the ninth time in the last twelve years, peace falls: global levels have dropped 2.5% since 2008, according to the report.It reveals that although several of the conflicts and crises that have emerged in the last decade have begun to decrease, a new era of uncertainty and tension awaits us due to the coronavirus pandemic.The index is released annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a Sydney-based think tank that analyses the economic costs of violence.The survey is based on statistics from various United Nations organs, the Economist Intelligence Unit and numerous other international bodies.It measures a wide range of weighted factors including violent crime, political instability, policing and external conflict. It boils these down into three major factors, namely militarisation, safety and security and domestic and international conflict. It then gives each country a score of one to five, with five being the most severe. Middle East scores lowIceland remained the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008, with scores of 1.0, 1.16, and 1.0 in each of the above factors respectively. It is joined at the top of the index by New Zealand, Portugal, and Austria.Namibia's scores for the abovementioned three factors were 1.728, 2.47 and 1.2 respectively.Afghanistan is still the least peaceful country in the world, followed by Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen.In sub-Saharan Africa, the most peaceful country is Mauritius, joined by Botswana, Ghana, Zambia and Sierra Leone on the top five list. South Sudan is the least peaceful country in the region.

Namibia improves on peace index

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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Namibia improves on peace index

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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