The Philippines placed 125th out of 163 countries in the 2022 global list of most peaceful nations, climbing four places up on the log from the 129th position it was previously ranked.
According to the Global Peace Index, the Philippines is among the five countries worldwide with the largest improvements in peace and security along with Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
GPI is a report published annually by Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) which ranks countries according to their level of peacefulness using three major themes: safety and security, militarization, and ongoing conflict.
The Philippines scored 2.339 out of five on the index, where 1 is the most peaceful and 5 is the least peaceful.
Iceland remains to be the most peaceful country for the fourteenth consecutive year with an overall score of 1.107, followed by New Zealand with a score of 1.269.
Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Russia, and South Sudan are the five least peaceful countries, according to the report.
Russia, Ukraine, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Haiti are the countries with the largest deterioration, all of which are due to the ongoing conflict.
Peacebuilding efforts
In the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines recorded the largest improvement.
GPI also noted that the Philippines registered its best score in peacefulness in a decade.
For Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the country’s improvement in the latest GPI ranking is a testament to the national government’s steadfast commitment to pushing forward the comprehensive Philippine peace process.
“This is an affirmation that all the peacebuilding efforts of the Duterte administration over the last six years are bearing fruit,” Galvez said.
“This also proves that the Philippine peace process is moving in the right direction,” he added.
Galvez said the latest results should encourage the incoming administration to build and sustain the gains of peace.
Despite major improvements in the global ranking, the Philippines still had the third-lowest peacefulness score in the region followed by Myanmar and North Korea.
“Now that our global ranking has improved, we must continue to work harder so that these peace gains will be reflected in our regional rankings,” Galvez said.
“The government is committed more than ever to attain a higher level of peacefulness in the coming years,” he added.
