China Ranked World's 120th Most Peaceful Nation

By Bridget O'Donnell

The 2016 Global Peace Index is out, and this year China ranks in the bottom half at 120.

The index, released annually by the non-profit Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), takes into account 23 factors within three main categories: “ongoing domestic and international conflict,” “societal safety and security,” and “militarisation.” For each indicator, every state or territory was ranked on a scale from one to five, with five being "least peaceful."

China, which ranked 16th out of 19 places in the Asia Pacific region, scored worst this year in “nuclear and heavy weapons” and best in “internal conflicts fought” and “deaths from external conflict." Take a look at the full rankings on this interactive map.

Though Xi Jinping announced that he'd be cutting troops by 13 percent ahead of last year's "Anti-Facist" military parade, China's lower ranking can be attributed to heightened tensions in the South China Sea. The report also noted that China had the second highest military expenditures in the world, after the United States.

China earned a "medium" composite score of 2.288, just between Ethiopia (2.284) and Djibouti (2.292), and behind Germany (16th at 1.486), France (46th at 1.829), the United Kingdom (47th at 1.830) and the US (103rd at 2.154). Around Asia, Japan came in at 9th (1.395), Taiwan at 41st (1.787) and South Korea at 53rd (1.858). South China Sea rival the Philippines came in below China at 139th (2.511). North Korea and Russia earned spots spot in the bottom 20, with North Korea coming in at 150th (2.944) and Russia at 151st (3.079).

A look at the top ten "most peaceful" countries:

1. Iceland (1.192)
2. Denmark (1.246)
3. Austria (1.278)
4. New Zealand (1.287)
5. Portugal (1.356)
6. Czech Republic (1.360)
7. Switzerland (1.370)
8. Canada (1.388)
9. Japan (1.395)
10. Slovenia (1.408)

Meanwhile, here are the ten "least peaceful":

154. Libya (3.200)
155. Sudan (3.269)
156. Ukraine (3.287)
157. Central African Republic (3.354)
158. Yemen (3.399)
159. Somalia (3.414)
160. Afghanistan (3.538)
161. Iraq (3.570)
162. South Sudan (3.593)
163. Syria (3.806)

Despite a higher overall score than last year (2.267), China actually jumped up four spots on the list from 2015.

[Image via The Himalayan Times]

You May Also Like...

For more China news, click "Read more" below.