Iceland Recognized As Most Peaceful Nation

Reyjavik, Iceland (AHN) - Iceland topped the second annual Global Peace Index from 140 nations. Iraq was on the bottom of the list.

The basis of the non-governmental organization, Vision of Humanity, which undertook the ranking, in bestowing the most peaceful country award to Iceland were 24 criteria. It included number of deaths from organized conflict, levels of violent crimes and percentage of the country's gross domestic product allocated for military spending.

Iceland was followed by Denmark, Norway, New Zealand and Japan. On the opposite end of the spectrum, after Iraq came Sudan, Afghanistan, Israel and Chad. Russia was 131st, the U.S. 97th, China 67th and Germany 14th.

Nations with major improvements in their rankings were Angola, Indonesia, India and Uzbekistan, while Kenya had the biggest slump due to its recent presidential election which ended in ethnic cleansing.

Overall, there were small steps toward peace. Steve Killelea, founder of the index, said in a statement quoted by Deutsche Welle, "The world appears to be a marginally more peaceful place this year... This is encouraging, but it takes small steps by individual countries for the world to make greater strides on the road to peace."

Top placer Iceland was also on the number one spot in the United Nations 2007 Human Development Index report.