Peacefulness improved in 74 countries and deteriorated in 87.

 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. Figure 1.1 shows the change in the average levels of peacefulness for each of the GPI domains, as well as the percentage of countries that improved or deteriorated. In total, peacefulness improved in 74 countries and deteriorated in 87.

The Safety and Security domain was the only one of the three GPI domains to record an improvement over the past year, despite the increase in armed conflict worldwide. There were 95 countries that recorded improvements on the domain, compared to 67 that recorded deteriorations. Perceptions of criminality had the biggest improvement, followed by political terror scale and violent demonstrations. The average global homicide rate is at its lowest level since the inception of the index. 

Figure 1.2 shows the average percentage change for each indicator from the 2024 to the 2025 GPI. Thirteen of the 23 GPI indicators deteriorated on average, with eight improving and two remaining unchanged. The largest average deterioration was on the external conflicts fought indicator, while the perceptions of criminality indicator had the largest improvement. The increase in conflict across the globe led to a deterioration on the deaths from internal conflict indicator. Although the total number of deaths fell due to large decreases in Mexico and Ukraine, 49 countries recorded an increase in conflict deaths in 2024. While the impact of conflict in Ukraine and Palestine received the most global media coverage, intense conflict has become increasingly widespread. There were 17 countries with over 1,000 internal conflict deaths in 2024, the highest since 1999, and a further 18 countries that recorded over one hundred deaths in the last year. The largest deterioration year on year was for external conflicts fought. The deterioration on the indicator reflects the increase in external actors becoming involved in internal conflicts. The United States, Russia, Iran and France are among the countries with the highest scores.

 There were 44 countries with scores that deteriorated on this indicator, with four of the ten largest deteriorations occurring in countries in sub-Saharan Africa. There are now 98 countries that were at least partially involved in some form of external conflict in the past five years, up from 59 in 2008. In most cases, such countries were offering support to an existing government in its conflict with an internal armed rebel or terrorist group. A list of all the countries involved in five or more external conflicts is shown in Table 

The Ongoing Conflict domain recorded the largest deterioration, with the average score on the domain deteriorating by 1.3 per cent. While most attention has been focused on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, conflict remains widespread across the globe, with 78 countries recording a deterioration from the 2024 to the 2025 GPI. The main driver of rising Ongoing Conflict was an increase in the number of external conflicts fought, with 46 countries experiencing more external conflict this year than last year. The biggest deteriorations on this domain occurred in Russia, Bangladesh and Ukraine. Every indicator on the Ongoing Conflict domain deteriorated on average, apart from intensity of internal conflict, which recorded no change. 

The Militarisation domain continued to deteriorate over the past year, with 86 countries recording deteriorations. Average military expenditure as a percentage of GDP reached its highest level since 2010, increasing by 2.5 per cent over the past year. Norway, Denmark and Bangladesh recorded the largest deteriorations on the Militarisation domain in 2025. The deterioration on this domain is a reversal of the trend seen for much of the past 15 years, as many countries have begun to move towards higher levels of military spending given the increase in conflict and geopolitical unrest across the globe.

Perceptions of criminality had the largest average improvement of any indicator. There were 75 countries that recorded an improvement on the indicator, compared to 41 which recorded a deterioration. Five of the ten best scoring countries on the indicator are in the MENA region, while eight of the ten worst scoring countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. After a period of improvement at the beginning of the decade, the terrorism impact indicator recorded its largest deterioration since 2020. This reflects the continued intensification of terrorism in a small number of hotspots around the globe, most notably in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa. The number of countries affected by terrorism increased from 58 in 2023 to 66 in 2024, much of it related to lone actor attacks in Western democracies. Forty-five countries deteriorated, compared to only 34 that improved. 

Average military expenditure as percentage of GDP deteriorated across the world, as more countries began to act on promises to increase military spending. This year was the third largest deterioration since the inception of the GPI. There were 84 countries where relative military expenditure increased over the past year, compared to just 50 where it decreased. Much of this increase is driven by the conflicts in Ukraine and IsraelPalestine, with Israel recording the largest deterioration on the indicator. In 2024, twenty-four Western and Central European countries increased military spending, with several others pledging future increases. In other regions of the world, increasing militarisation was largely concentrated in subSaharan Africa, where scores on the Militarisation domain deteriorated in 23 of the 44 countries in the region.