SA not so peaceful – ranked 125th out of 163 countries
To make things worse, SA didn't even reach the Top 10 safest countries in Africa.
It wasn’t great to hear on radio that South Africa is ranked 125th on the world’s most peaceful countries list according to the Global Peace Index (GPI).
To make things worse, SA didn’t even reach the Top 10 safest countries in Africa. Our neighbour, Zimbabwe, is ranked 124th.
Briefly.co.za reported that “The GPI uses a number of factors when calculating the peace index of a country such as homicides per 100 000 people, violent demonstrations, level of violent crime, political instability and heavy weapons capability”. This clearly doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the Rainbow Nation.
So, without further ado, let me announce that the most peaceful country in the world is Iceland. For those who didn’t know, Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean between Greenland and the United Kingdom. They have a population of just over 341 000 and the average life expectancy for a man is 81,2 years and 83,8 years for a woman. According to Britannica.com, “Iceland was founded more than 1 000 years ago during the Viking age”, and as far as I know, the Viking people were not your most peaceful. Read more about them online.
In contrast, South Africa has a population of more than 55 million, with the average life expectancy for a man being just 59,1 years and 63,1 years for a woman.
The second most peaceful country is New Zealand followed by Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Canada, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Japan and Ireland. The least peaceful country comes as no surprise – it’s Syria.
Did this come as a surprise to you? Send us your comments and thoughts on the topic by emailing the editor at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za.
Visit https://briefly.co.za/12766-south-africa-ranked-125th-worlds-peaceful-countries-list.html#12766 for more.
