Sunday 17 / November / 2024
Washington: Oman came fifth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region level in the Global Peace Index (GPI 2016), published by the US based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) in collaboration with the Centre for Peace and Security (C4PS) in Australia.
As per the index, which covers 162 countries, the Sultanate came 74th on the world level with 2.016 points. Iceland topped the list followed by Denmark, Austria, New Zealand and Portugal.
The index whose first version was launched in 2007 measures the level of safety and security in the society, as well as the local and global conflict.
It includes 24 sub-indexes including several domestic and foreign wars, the level of domestic conflict, the relationships with the neighbouring countries, the level of confidence in citizens, the number of homeless compared to the total population, the political instability, the respect for human rights, the number of prisoners, the total number of homicides, the number of violent demonstrations and the percentage of military expenditure from the state’s budget.
The report says that the world has spent about 13.4 per cent of the global GDP on arms, military exercises and financial losses resulting from crimes, internal security and disputes.
The report also added that the conflict makes countries incur huge economic cost and result in economic problems.
