Jordan Times
Friday, June 1, 2007
Jordan 9th most peaceful
MENA country
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN — Jordan has ranked as the ninth most peaceful state in the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA), according to the Global Peace Index (GPI).
The index, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), is a ranking of
121 countries listed according to their peacefulness and comprising a broad
range of 24 indicators measuring both their internal and external peacefulness.
In terms of its international standing, Jordan emerged with a ranking of 63,
fairing much better than neighbouring states Israel (119), Iraq (121), Syria
(77), Lebanon (114) and Egypt (73).
Jordan also came 33 places above the United Sates, which ranked 96, just one
slot above Iran, according to the GPI study, the first of its kind.
In the MENA region, Oman emerged as the most peaceful country, followed by
Qatar, the UAE, Tunisia, Kuwait, Morocco, Libya and Bahrain, according to the
study received by The Jordan Times.
The indicators included the levels of violence, organised crime and military
expenditure within a country. The index has also been correlated against a range
of social development indicators including democracy, transparency, education
and well-being to better understand the determinants or “drivers” that create or
sustain peace.
The index awarded parameters for the indicators with (1) being the most
peaceful.
Jordan received (1) on the number of jailed population per 100,000 people, the
number of homicides per 100,000 people, the number of deaths from organised
crime and the number of displaced people as a percentage of the population.
Jordan also scored well in the primary school enrolment ratio (91 per cent),
secondary school enrolment (81 per cent) and enrolment in higher education (31
per cent). According to the study, adult literacy now stands at 90 per cent.
The EIU was commissioned to devise a methodology and compile the index on behalf
of Steve Killelea, 57, an Australian IT entrepreneur and philanthropist and the
chairman and founder of Integrated Research Ltd.
After compiling the index, the researchers examined it for patterns in order to
identify the “drivers” that make for peaceful societies. They found that
peaceful countries often shared high levels of democracy and transparency of
government, education and material well-being.
“I believe there is a link between the peacefulness and the wealth of nations
and therefore business has a key role to play in peace,” said Killelea.
“Countries like Japan and Germany can give hope and optimism to countries
further down the index that there can be light at the end of what may seem at
the moment like a very dark tunnel.”
The index ranked Norway as the most peaceful country, followed by New Zealand,
Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Portugal and Austria.
Iraq, which has been devastated by war and sectarian violence since the US
invasion of 2003, ranked bottom, followed by Sudan and Israel.
The GPI found that countries which had a turbulent time for parts of the 20th
century such as Ireland (4) and Austria (10) have emerged as peace leaders in
the 21st century.
The data for the study was collected by a team of international peace experts
and researchers from a range of respected sources from the International
Institute of Strategic Studies, the World Bank, and various UN offices and peace
institutes.
The GPI is supported by prominent key figures and peace advocates, including the
Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Queen Noor, former US president Jimmy
Carter and former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank,
Professor Joseph Stiglitz.