Global Peace Index 2026: India ranked 127th; Iceland tops for 19th year

The Global Peace Index (GPI) is an annual report produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an international think tank, and it ranks countries and territories according to their level of peacefulness. It uses indicators across three broad domains: the level of societal safety and security, the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarisation. The index is one of the world's leading measures of national peacefulness and is widely cited in policy and academic discussions. Iceland, a small Nordic island nation, has consistently topped the index owing to its low crime, absence of armed conflict and stable society. Countries' rankings can shift year to year based on internal violence, political instability, military spending and involvement in conflicts. For India, factors such as internal security challenges and regional tensions influence its score, and a sharp drop in rank typically draws attention to the underlying indicators driving the change.