By Desmond Nleya
According to the latest report released on Tuesday by the Global Peace Index (GPI), UAE has been ranked as one of the most improving countries in ‘peacefulness’ in the world.
The 18th edition of GPI which was published the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an international think-tank, further noted that there are 56 conflicts in the world, the most since the end of World War Two.
Steve Killelea, a foreign policy analyst said this year, the UAE was the most improved country, moving by 31 places.
“Since 2021, the UAE has improved more places than any other country, improving by 31 places to be ranked 53rd in 2024. The UAE improved its diplomatic relations and commercial ties with Iran and Türkiye and has strengthened diplomatic relations more broadly across the region and into South Asia,” said Killelea
The UAE also saw improvements across all three GPI domains – militarisation, ongoing conflict, and safety and security.
Its overall score improved by about nine per cent, with improvements on 10 indicators, deteriorations on two, and 11 with no change.
“Internally, the UAE has very low perceptions of criminality, and both its political terror scale score and terrorism impact score improved over the past year,” said Killelea.
The Global Peace Index report said that the highest jump in the UAE’s ranking was seen in the ongoing conflict domain, driven by improvements in deaths from internal conflict and neighbouring countries’ relations.
“The UAE has made considerable strides in improving relations with key regional rivals in recent years. It has increased diplomatic and commercial links with Iran and Türkiye, and used its financial strength to improve relations across the broader region and in East Africa and South Asia,” it said.
There was also an improvement in the safety and security domain, as both the terrorism impact and political terror scale scores improved.
The Gulf country also recorded a significant improvement in the militarisation domain.
The study noted that the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and some other middle powers are more actively engaging in global affairs.
Meanwhile, due to the Gaza war, Israel’s ranking fell to an all-time low of 155th, the largest deterioration in peacefulness in 2024.
