Qatar tops MENA list in Global Peace Index 2011

The State of Qatar topped the Middle East and North African (MENA) region in Global Peace Index (GPI) 2011. The index is published by Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) which is based in Sydney, Australia and this year's index was announced in Washington on Wednesday May 25, 2011.

Qatar came in the first place among the Arab countries and in 12^th place on global level among 153 countries by advancing its position this year.

Globally Qatar came ahead of many countries such as Sweden (13), Bulgaria (14), Singapore (24), Britain (26), France (36), Italy (45) and the United States (82).

Among Arab countries Qatar was placed first ahead of Kuwait (2^nd Arabic and 29^th globally), UAE (3^rd Arabic and 33^rd globally) and Oman (4^th Arabic and 41^st globally)

The GPI is considered as the leading measure of global peacefulness and it is produced by Institute of Economics & Peace, a non-profit research institute that studies the relations between economics, business and peace.   

The Index measures 40 quantitative and qualitative indicators based on the data from reliable sources and it consists of internal and external factors such as:

- Number of crimes in society

- Number of internal security officers and police

- Number of homicides per 100,000 people

- Ease of access to small arms and light weapons

- Level of organized conflict (internal)

- Likelihood of violent demonstrations

- Level of violent crime

- Political instability

- Level of disrespect for human rights (Political Terror Scale)

- Relations with neighboring countries

- Number of deaths from organized conflict (internal) 

The countries are assessed on score level of (1-5). The country that is more peaceful will get a score of 1 while the least peaceful will get 5. 

As per this standard, Qatar was placed in top countries in most of the indicators as it got a score of 1.398 which shows the best performance in political, economical and security factors. 

The GPI report described Qatar as one of the most peaceful countries among the 18 MENA countries as it scored high in peace and stability as per the GPI indicators. 

Regarding the internal situation of the country, the GPI gave Qatar highest scores in interior affairs. It described the peace and stability enjoyed by the country as model for other countries. It also revealed the potentialities and capabilities in different fieldd which contributed for social, political and law and order stability in the country. 

The Report says that Qatar scored (1) in organized crime, (1) in number of homicides per 100,000 persons, (2) in Ease of access to small arms and light weapon, (1) in respect of human rights, (1.5) in Criminality in society, and  (3) in number of police and security officers per 100,000 persons. All these scores are considered high as per the report. 

The Index considers threat of terrorist attacks and likelihood of violent demonstrations as main factors that dropped the global peace in 2011. This is third year in row that shows a drop in global peace index. An estimated 8.12tr USD has been the cost of this drop on global economy. 

Steve Killilea, CEO of the IEP  says "These dramatic declines have been caused by conflict between citizens and their governments. So the countries shall search for new methods for ensuring stability rather than resorting into armed force", he said.

He also added that in spite of more than decade long war on terror, the likelihood of terrorist attacks has increased this year taking back the small gains earned in the previous years.