New Zealand proclaimed world's most peaceful country

YESTERDAY saw the Australian Institute for Economics and Peace in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit declare New Zealand as the most peaceful country on the planet, pipping Denmark to the title by a smidge and knocking Iceland from the coveted top spot.

"New Zealand is ranked the nation most at peace of the 144 ranked in the 2009 Global Peace Index," says the Institute's report.

NZ's rise from third spot last year is largely because of the new National government, elected in November 2008, which, the report says, "increases the score for political stability.

"The centre-right National Party has a strong popular mandate and a robust parliamentary majority by New Zealand’s standards, putting the new prime minister, John Key, in a good position to push through his agenda."

The institute admits quantifying peace is difficult, and "Having established what constitutes an absence of violence, is it possible to identify which structures and institutions create and maintain peace?

"The Global Peace Index is a first step in this direction; a measurement of peace as the 'absence of violence', that seeks to determine what cultural attributes and institutions are associated with states of peace."

See the full report and a comparison with the UK.