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Norway is the 'least peaceful' Nordic country

The Local Denmark
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Norway is the 'least peaceful' Nordic country
Although 17th overall, Norway was fourth for societal safety. Photo: Tejre Pedersen/NTB Scanpix

Norway is the 17th most peaceful country in the world but is ranked below all of its Nordic brethren.

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According to the Global Peace Index (GPI), released this week by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Norway is one of the most peaceful nations in the world.
 
The index put Norway in 17th place overall and said the nation had a ‘high’ state of peace. However, Norway was the lowest-ranking Nordic nation, far behind first-place Iceland and second-ranked Denmark
 
Finland and Sweden also topped Norway in the list, coming in at 11th and 14th respectively. 
 
The GPI comprises 23 indicators of the existence of violence or fear of violence, which include metrics such as the level of perceived criminality in the society, impact of terrorism, and military expenditure as percentage of the country’s gross domestic product.
 
Each of the indicators for a given country is graded on a scale of one to five and then indexed into a final score, which can then be compared against other countries.
 
Norway’s indexed score was 1.500, up ever so slightly over last year's report. By comparison, the indexed score of Syria, the lowest-rated nation in the report, was 3.806, even worse than it's last-place score from 2015. 
 
Screenshot: Vision of Humanity
Click through on the image to access the interactive map. Screen shot: Vision of Humanity
 
As a whole, the index concluded that "overall global levels of peace continue to deteriorate while the gap between the most and least peaceful countries continue to widen".
 
According to the report, Europe is far and away "the most peaceful region in the world, accounting for six of the first seven places in the global rankings".
 
"However, the average score for Europe deteriorated slightly, reflecting increases in the impact of terrorism due to the large terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels as well as the escalation of violence and instability in Turkey and its deteriorating relations with its neighbours," the report warned.
 
While Norway was the lowest-ranking Nordic nation, it stood out as the fourth most peaceful country when it comes to societal safety, behind only Iceland, Switzerland and Denmark.
 
Its overall score was dragged down by its ranking in the ‘militarization domain’, where it placed 144th. 
 
The full report from the Institute for Economics and Peace can be accessed here.

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