Most peaceful countries in the world in 2022

In a previous article last year, I wrote about the top 12 safest countries in the world. I based my list on the rankings on the Travel Safe Abroad website. Their list has changed slightly this year to include French Polynesia in the 4^th spot, unfortunately pushing Canada down into 13^th place.

For this post, I’m using the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2022 report, a link to which landed in my inbox this morning from one of my Iceland contacts. They were no doubt thrilled (as was I) to learn that Iceland has once again maintained the top spot, which it has held since the inception of the GPI in 2008.

As a travel planner, specializing in safe and sustainable adventures for solo female travellers and women’s groups, it’s always good to know which countries around the world are the safest for my clients to experience. So I decided to check out the report and share what I learned here.

The GPI ranks 163 independent states and territories around the world, which cover 99.7% of the world’s population. The index uses 23 qualitative and quantitative criteria from reliable sources to measure how peaceful they are.

Their level of peacefulness is measured across three domains: the level of societal safety and security, the extent of ongoing conflict, and the degree of militarisation. Each country is given a score for each measurement in the three domains—the lower the score, the higher the ranking.

Iceland ranks number one in all three domains and therefore takes the overall top spot as the most peaceful country in the world in 2022. Not only that, but, it still holds the top spot on the Travel Safe Abroad website, as the safest country in the world. Iceland is an extremely safe country for solo female travellers.

Having recently explored Iceland as a solo female traveller myself, I can attest to its safety, and peacefulness. At no time during my trip did I feel unsafe exploring its landscapes and cities, not even in Reykjavik on a Friday night when the entire city was partying till way past the wee hours.

It’s wonderful to know that New Zealand has also maintained the number two spot on the GPI for 2022, ranking as the second most peaceful country in the world and the most peaceful country in the Asia-Pacific region.

Interestingly, Ireland moved up three places into the third spot and Austria moved up two taking the fifth spot. In the process they knocked Denmark Portugal and Slovenia down to fourth, sixth and seventh place respectively. Canada also moved down four places and is now ranked twelfth most peaceful country in the world. Two countries that have newly ranked as one of the 20 most peaceful countries in the world are Malaysia and Slovakia, moving up 4 and 5 places respectively.