Australia Economic Peace Research Institute’s ‘World Peace Index 2025’ report ranked 41st out of 1.736 and 163 countries in Korea…Two levels from last year ↑

Tourists in Reykjavik, Iceland's capital. [Photo by = AFP Yonhap News] 사진 확대

Tourists in Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital. [Photo by = AFP Yonhap News]

The most peaceful country in the world as of this year is Iceland, according to an Australian research institute analysis. South Korea ranked 41st and North Korea ranked 149th.

According to the report ‘World Peace Index 2025’ by the Australian think tank Institute for Economic Peace (IEP) reported on the 30th (local time), Iceland ranked first with 1.095 points in this year’s evaluation. Iceland has been ranked No. 1 since the 2008 survey.

Based on 23 indicators, the IEP Peace Index measures the level of peace in three areas: the social safety and security stage, the size of domestic and foreign conflicts, and the degree of militarization and ranks each country. This is the 19th announcement this year, and the closer the score is, the more peaceful it is.

South Korea scored 1.736 points in the survey. It ranked 41st among 163 countries surveyed, up two notches from last year.

Ireland (1.260 points) ranked second, the same as the previous year, while New Zealand (1.282 points), Australia (1.294 points), and Switzerland (1.294 points) ranked third through fifth.

128th place in the U.S…Russia and Russia at the bottom of the war

A firefighter rests after extinguishing a fire at a school destroyed by a missile bombing in Kharkiv, Ukraine. [Photo = Yonhap News] 사진 확대

A firefighter rests after extinguishing a fire at a school destroyed by a missile bombing in Kharkiv, Ukraine. [Photo = Yonhap News]

North Korea, which scored 2.911 points, ranked 149th, the same as the previous year. In Asia, it was ranked second only to Myanmar, and was among the lowest group in the scale of dividing the peace state into six levels.

The U.S. (2.443 points) ranked 128th, lower than Honduras, Bangladesh and Uganda.

Ukraine and Russia, which have been at war for more than three years, ranked 162nd and 163rd, falling three and two places, respectively, from the previous year. This is the first time this year that Russia finished last in the evaluation.

Yemen (3.262 points), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3.292 points), and Sudan (3.323 points) were included in the bottom five countries.

The report explained that the level of global peace has deteriorated by 0.36% this year compared to the previous year. Among the countries surveyed, 74 countries improved their peace levels, but 87 countries got worse.