The 2025 Global Peace Index Report Launch Event

On July 8, 2025, Cooperation Canada and its members took part in a dialogue accompanying the release of the 2025 Global Peace Index (GPI). Professionals from a diverse range of sectors—including international development and humanitarian response participated in the event. 

Cooperation Canada is grateful to the speakers for sharing their insights and valuable contributions: Michael Collins, Executive Director, Americas at Institute for Economics & Peace, Sharonya Sekhar, Director, Humanitarian Diplomacy, Policy and Movement Relations at Canadian Red Cross and Diana Sarosi, Director of Policy, Campaigns and Communications at Oxfam Canada. 

The 2025 Global Peace Index (GPI), produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), covers 99.7% of the world’s population. It uses 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure the state of peace across three domains; the level of societal safety and security, the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict and the degree of militarization.  

Peace has deteriorated every year since 2014. Over this period, 100 countries deteriorated and only 62 improved. Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. Canada shares the 14th position with the Netherlands among 163 jurisdictions evaluated. Western and Central Europe is the most peaceful region in the world, home to eight of the ten most peaceful countries, although its peacefulness has been falling over the last four years. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains the world’s least peaceful region. 

There are currently 59 active state-based conflicts, the most since the end of World War II. Conflicts are also becoming more internationalized, making solutions more difficult. Seventy-eight countries were directly involved in a war beyond their borders in 2023. The global economic impact of violence was equivalent to 11.6 per cent of global GDP, or $2,455 per person.   

The almost two-decade long trend of falling militarization has also reversed, with 106 countries having deteriorated on the militarization domain in the past two years. There were 98 countries that were at least partially involved in some form of external conflict over the past five years, up from 59 in 2008. Many European countries are increasing their military expenditure as a result of the war in Ukraine. Global military spending hit a record $2.7 trillion in 2024, a nine per cent increase from the previous year, driven largely by conflicts such as the war in Ukraine. 

There are now 34 countries who are considered to have substantial influence in another country, up from six in the 1970s. Combined with the US and China having reached or being near the limits of their influence, the world is moving into the age of ‘global power fragmentation’. 

The Free Flow of Information Pillar is foundational to peace. Everything from business efficiency to prompt humanitarian responses relies on up-to-date and accurate information. While access to telecommunications has improved more than any other indicator in the Positive Peace Index, press freedom and information quality have seen the steepest declines. In 2023, civilian deaths in high-income countries received 100 times more media articles than a similar number of deaths in low-income countries. 

Civil conflicts are under-reported. They receive less attention on average than conflicts between states, even when they have substantially higher numbers of fatalities. Major power rivalries dominate headlines. Media reporting on international affairs focuses heavily on competitive interactions between global powers. 

Although the Safety and Security domain deteriorated, several indicators have shown sustained improvement, most notably the homicide rate and perceptions of criminality indicators. There were 100 countries that improved on the perceptions of criminality indicator between the 2008 and 2025 GPI, while 51 countries recorded a deterioration. 

Around the world, there are now over 122 million people that have been forcibly displaced. There are now 17 countries where over five percent of the population are refugees or internally displaced.  

The 2025 Global Peace Index not only delivers a worrying observation, but it also sends a powerful message. For the 13th time in 17 years, global peace has declined, with an average deterioration of 0.36% compared to last year. Global military spending reached a record high of $2.7 trillion (about $8,300 per person in the US) in 2024, a 9% increase, largely due to ongoing conflicts, notably the war in Ukraine.  

These figures are more than just numbers — they reflect the real impact on people’s lives: families displaced, communities disrupted, and development set back. 

The most valuable contributions of the latest Global Peace Index help shift our approach from reactive to proactive. Tools like the new predictive conflict measures, which find areas most at risk of escalation, allow us in the humanitarian and peacebuilding sectors to predict, prepare, and act before crises reach their tipping point. 

And that is the work ahead: building systems and partnerships that can respond strategically, not just urgently. 

Read the full report here.