Iceland has been named the world’s most peaceful country, while war-torn is the least, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace.
The non-profit group, which released its latest Global Peace Index for 2015 earlier in the week, ranked 162 countries around the world based on factors such as conflict, violence and militarisation.
While Iceland retained its number one spot, six out of the top 10 were also in Europe, with the second and third places being taken up by Denmark and Austria respectively.
The report said that Europe maintained its place as the world’s most peaceful region because of a lack of both internal and external conflicts. However, positive performance of Europe was helped by the fact that Ukraine is in the ‘Russia and Eurasia” category.
Ukraine’s rating fell more than any other country apart from Libya over the past 12 months due to clashes between government forces and pro-Russian separatists. The North African country, meanwhile, has seen the civil war between nationalist and Islamist groups deteriorate further during the last year.