Considering neighbours Spain and France are ranked in 32nd and 60th place respectively, Portugal’s promotion this year to third place in the Global Peace Index has exponentially raised the bar on this country’s profile.
Ranked in 5th place last year, we’re up two places from 2018 – and have advanced up the scale in countries where the perception of migrants has grown.
Say reports, “among European countries”, Portugal is actually in second place regarding peacefulness, behind Iceland.
Iceland remains the top country for its ‘peaceful character’, followed by New Zealand.
But there are some ‘flipsides’ to the index, compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace.
For example, Portugal is one of the countries where the perception of safety between men and women is most disparate – a difference of 22 percentage points – almost certainly alluding to the country’s ongoing issues with domestic violence.
On a political level, when it comes to ‘perception in relation to the American leadership’, Portugal is one of three countries that have registered a major fall – “a fall that exceeds 40% points”, explains negoçios online.
Generally, says the Index, perceptions of trust in the world’s most powerful countries have fallen since 2008.
“Confidence in US leadership has fallen more than confidence in Russian, Chinese and German leadership in the past five years, with people on average now having more confidence in Chinese leadership than the US”.
Portugal’s new ranking when it comes to ‘peaceful countries’ is the key result, however.
Iceland and New Zealand have occupied the top two slots for years: this is Portugal’s first time in the Top Three (behind Austria, Denmark and Canada).
As for the rest, the Index’s ‘key findings’ report that “the average level of global peacefulness improved very slightly, for the first time in five years.
“Europe remains the most peaceful region in the world, and it recorded a very slight improvement in peacefulness after several years of deterioration.
The Middle East and North Africa remain the world’s least peaceful regions – home to four of the ten least peaceful countries in the world, with no country ranked higher than 30th.
As for the ‘least peaceful country’ in last (163rd) place, it’s Afghanistan – in even more turmoil than Syria (up a position to slot 162).
For the full report (click here).
