(Australia) – UAE is the second most peaceful country in the Middle East, according to a new survey. The annual Global Peace Index, which looks at various factors in 158 countries around the world, put the UAE in 48th place globally. The highest ranked country in the Middle East was Qatar in 12th place followed by Kuwait in 47th. Oman came in at 59, with Jordan at 62.
But other countries in the region were languishing near the bottom of the list, with Saudi Arabia ranked at 106, Egypt 111, Iran 128, Syria 147 and Iraq at 155. The most peaceful place in the world, according to the index produced by the Institute of Economics and Peace Australia is Iceland and the most dangerous Somalia. The index is considered the leading measure of global peace.
The Australian institute studies the relations between economics, business and peace in 158 countries, scoring each from one to five on 23 indicators, such as crime levels, number of internal security officers and police, ease of access to small arms and light weapons and likelihood of violent demonstrations.