Written by 
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
Ranked: The World’s 12 Least Peaceful Countries (2020-2024)
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Is the world becoming more or less peaceful?
That’s the tricky question that the Global Peace Index tries to answer annually.
According to the latest edition of the report, 2024 is the fifth straight year in which global peacefulness has actually deteriorated, with the Russia-Ukraine and Gaza Strip conflicts being some of the key drivers.
This graphic from Julie Peasley highlights the 12 least peaceful countries between 2020-2024.
Methodology
The Global Peace Index is a scoring system adopted by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). It tries to quantify 23 different metrics that drive peace in a country.
Every year the non-partisan group ranks 163 countries, covering 99.7% of the world’s population, based on factors such as military expenditure, weapons imports and exports, political terror scale, deaths from internal and external conflict, nuclear and heavy weapons, perceptions of criminality, homicide rate, political instability, violent crime, and demonstrations.
The Least Peaceful Countries in the World
Here are the countries that topped the index over the last five years.
| Rank | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Afghanistan |
Afghanistan |
Afghanistan |
Afghanistan |
 Yemen |
| 2 |  Syria |
Yemen |
Yemen |
Yemen |
 Sudan |
| 3 |  Iraq |
Syria |
Syria |
Syria |
 South Sudan |
| 4 | South Sudan |
South Sudan |
 Russia |
South Sudan |
Afghanistan |
| 5 | Yemen |
Iraq |
South Sudan |
 DRC |
 Ukraine |
| 6 |  Somalia |
Somalia |
DRC |
Russia |
DRC |
| 7 |  Libya |
DRC |
Iraq |
Ukraine |
Russia |
| 8 | DRC |
Libya |
Somalia |
Somalia |
Syria |
| 9 |  Cen. African Rep |
Cen. African Rep |
Cen. African Rep |
Sudan |
 Israel |
| 10 | Russia |
Russia |
Sudan |
Iraq |
 Mali |
| 11 | Sudan |
Sudan |
Ukraine |
Mali |
Somalia |
| 12 |  Pakistan |
 Venezuela |
 North Korea |
Cen. African Rep |
North Korea |
In 2024, Yemen tops the list of the world’s least peaceful countries for the first time. In the three years previous, it ranked #2.
Ukraine has climbed the list consistently since war broke out in 2022, with the country ranking #5 in this year’s report.
Interestingly, militarization rates increased more this year than in the entire history of the index, having an outsized impact in decreasing overall peace. Of the 163 countries in the index, 108 (66.3%) of them saw rising militarization.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
Above are the least peaceful countries in the world, but which ones are the most peaceful according to the same index? Look at the most peaceful countries on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.
The post Ranked: The World’s 12 Least Peaceful Countries (2020-2024) appeared first on Visual Capitalist.