The most peaceful country in the world is Iceland, with a score of 1.161 on the Global Peace Index 2026 from the Institute for Economics & Peace, followed by New Zealand (1.343) and Switzerland (1.363). Slovenia, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, Singapore, Finland and Japan complete the top ten. Iceland’s lead is unusually wide: the gap between it and second-placed New Zealand is larger than the gap between New Zealand and Japan in tenth. Below, the top ten counts down from 10 to 1, with each country’s score and the reasons it ranks where it does.
| Rank | Country | GPI 2026 score | Change from 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iceland | 1.161 | no change |
| 2 | New Zealand | 1.343 | up 1 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 1.363 | down 1 |
| 4 | Slovenia | 1.369 | up 2 |
| 5 | Ireland | 1.371 | down 1 |
| 6 | Austria | 1.421 | down 1 |
| 7 | Portugal | 1.427 | up 1 |
| 8 | Singapore | 1.435 | down 1 |
| 9 | Finland | 1.478 | up 1 |
| 10 | Japan | 1.489 | up 3 |
The index scores 163 countries and territories from 1 (most peaceful) to 5 (least peaceful) using 23 indicators grouped into three areas: ongoing domestic and international conflict, safety and security within society, and militarisation. Internal peace counts for 60% of the final score and external peace for 40%.
Nos. 10 to 8: Japan, Finland and Singapore
10. Japan (1.489). Japan climbed three places to re-enter the top ten in 2026. It is the only country in the group with more than 100 million people, and it has been a fixture near the top since the first full index in 2008, when it ranked fifth. Its homicide and violent-crime rates are among the lowest recorded anywhere. Article 9 of its constitution, in force since 3 May 1947, renounces war as a means of settling international disputes, which keeps Japan out of external conflicts, although it maintains substantial Self-Defense Forces and hosts United States bases.
9. Finland (1.478). Finland moved up one place despite a changed security position. It shares a 1,340 km (830 mi) border with Russia that runs mostly through taiga forest, and after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Finnish opinion swung from long-standing opposition (one 2014 survey found only 22% in favour) to strong support for NATO membership. Finland joined the alliance in 2023. Its internal indicators, low crime, high trust in institutions and stable politics, keep it in the top ten even as its militarisation scores reflect a large reserve army built on conscription.
8. Singapore (1.435). Singapore is the only Asian country other than Japan in the top ten, and it dropped one place in 2026. It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, second only to Monaco, yet it records very low levels of violent crime and street disorder. Singapore has had conscription, known as National Service, since 1967, two years after independence. Its strict policing and low homicide rate keep it in the top ten despite that military footprint.
Nos. 7 and 6: Portugal and Austria
7. Portugal (1.427). Portugal rose one place. Its modern democracy dates from the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, a largely bloodless military coup that ended the Estado Novo regime founded by António de Oliveira Salazar. It has had no internal armed conflict since, and it sits at the far western edge of Europe with Spain as its only land neighbour. Portugal is also known for its drug policy: since July 2001 possession of drugs for personal use has been treated as an administrative rather than a criminal matter, a public-health approach introduced to reduce HIV infections among people who inject drugs.
6. Austria (1.421). Austria fell one place but has been in or near the top five for most of the index’s history. The Austrian State Treaty, signed at the Belvedere Palace in Vienna on 15 May 1955, ended the four-power Allied occupation, and on 26 October 1955 the Austrian parliament passed a constitutional law declaring the country permanently neutral. That law bars Austria from joining military alliances or allowing foreign bases on its soil. Vienna hosts the United Nations Office at Vienna, based in the Vienna International Centre north of the Danube, built between 1973 and 1979.
Nos. 5 to 3: Ireland, Slovenia and Switzerland, 0.008 Points Apart
The middle of the top ten is the closest race in the index. Only 0.008 points separate Switzerland in third from Ireland in fifth, so small movements in a single indicator are enough to swap their places.
5. Ireland (1.371). Ireland slipped one place. It has a long-standing policy of military neutrality, dating back to the Irish Free State in 1922, and it stayed neutral through the Second World War. Unlike Austria’s, Irish neutrality is a matter of government policy rather than law. The Good Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998, which ended most of the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, removed the main source of political violence on the island. Ireland was already in the top ten in 2008, when it ranked sixth.
4. Slovenia (1.369). Slovenia rose two places, the biggest gain in the top five. It is the youngest state in the top ten, and it had to fight for its independence: the Ten-Day War of 27 June to 7 July 1991, after Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June, ended quickly with the Brioni Accords. Slovenia avoided the far longer wars that followed elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia, joined both the European Union and NATO in 2004, and has stayed out of armed conflict since.
3. Switzerland (1.363). Switzerland dropped one place, from second to third. It has the oldest policy of military neutrality in the world and has not fought in a foreign war since its neutrality was recognised in 1815, at the Congress of Vienna and the Treaty of Paris that followed. It is not a member of NATO or the European Union. Geneva is home to the European headquarters of the United Nations and to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Unlike Iceland, however, Switzerland maintains a conscripted militia army, and the militarisation indicators count armed-forces personnel against it.
No. 2: New Zealand, 1,487 km Across the Tasman Sea
2. New Zealand (1.343). New Zealand regained second place in 2026. It has been in the top four in most editions of the index, and it was ranked first in 2009 and 2010, the only two years since 2008 in which Iceland was not. Geography does much of the work: the shortest distance between New Zealand and Australia, from Fiordland to Tasmania, is roughly 1,487 km (924 mi) across the Tasman Sea, and New Zealand has no land borders and no territorial disputes with neighbours.
Policy has reinforced that isolation. In 1984 Prime Minister David Lange banned nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered ships from New Zealand ports, and the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987 made the country’s land, territorial sea and airspace a nuclear-free zone. That stance remains part of its foreign policy. Low military spending relative to GDP and a small armed force help its militarisation score, while its internal indicators, low political instability and a low likelihood of violent demonstrations, are among the best in the world.
No. 1: Iceland, First in Every Edition Since 2011
1. Iceland (1.161). Iceland has ranked first in every edition since 2011, and it also topped the expanded 140-country edition of 2008. Its 2026 score of 1.161 puts it 0.182 points clear of New Zealand, the largest gap between any two neighbouring places in the top ten. It is the least populous member of NATO, which it joined as a founder in 1949, and it is the only member with no standing army. Its defence rests on the lightly armed Icelandic Coast Guard, which also runs the Iceland Air Defence System, while peacekeeping deployments go through the Iceland Crisis Response Unit, run by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
From 1951 to 2006 the United States maintained the Iceland Defense Force at Naval Air Station Keflavík under a NATO arrangement; since May 2008 allied air forces have taken turns patrolling Icelandic airspace instead. Because Iceland has no armed forces of its own, it scores almost perfectly on the militarisation indicators, and because it is an island in the North Atlantic, it has no land neighbours to quarrel with.
Iceland has also served as neutral ground for others. In October 1986 Höfði, a house in Reykjavík built in 1909, hosted the summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. The meeting ended without an agreement but is regarded as an important step towards the end of the Cold War. Since 2007 the Imagine Peace Tower, a column of light created by Yoko Ono in memory of John Lennon, has shone each year from the island of Viðey in Kollafjörður Bay, powered by Iceland’s geothermal electricity.
Critics of the index point out that small, isolated and wealthy countries have natural advantages, and the GPI’s own vice-president acknowledged in 2010 that results for very small countries such as Iceland could be misleading when compared with much larger ones. Even so, Iceland’s combination of low crime, political stability and the absence of any military makes it the clearest case at the top of the table. For the other end of the index, see our look at the most dangerous countries in the world, and for everyday crime rates, the list of countries with the lowest crime rate.