Peace Rank of European Countries

Top Ranked Peaceful Countries in Europe
Updated 2024

Country	Regional Rank	Guide Books & Resource Guides *affiliate links*	World Rank
Iceland	1	Iceland	1
Denmark	2	Denmark	4
Ireland	3	Ireland	3
Austria	4	Austria	5
Portugal	5	Portugal	6
Slovenia	6	Slovenia	7
Switzerland	7	Switzerland	11
Czech Republic	8	Czech Republic	8
Finland	9	Finland	14
Croatia	10	Croatia	15
Germany	11	Germany	16
Netherlands	12	Netherlands	21
Hungary	13	Hungary	13
Belgium	14	Belgium	22
Norway	15	Norway	17
Estonia	16	Estonia	33
Slovakia	17	Slovakia	20
Latvia	18	Latvia	35
Sweden	19	Sweden	26
Poland	20	Poland	25
Bulgaria	21	Bulgaria	24
Romania	22	Romania	31
Spain	23	Spain	29
Italy	24	Italy	32
United Kingdom	25	United Kingdom	34
North Macedonia	26	North Macedonia	36
Lithuania	27	Lithuania	41
Albania	28	Albania	48
Montenegro	29	Montenegro	53
Greece	30	Greece	58
Bosnia and Herzegovina	31	Bosnia and Herzegovina	67
Cyprus	32	Cyprus	52
Serbia	33	Serbia	65
France	34	France	71
Kosovo	35	Kosovo	151
Turkey	36	Turkey	145

Ranking The Peace Of The Countries Of The World
Peace Rank of North, South & Central America & The Caribbean
Peace Rank of Oceania, Eurasia, Asia Pacific & South Asia
Peace Rank of The Middle East, North Africa & Sub-Sahara Africa

Despite recent events and media focus on negative aspects of society Europe is still considered one of the most peaceful geographical region in the world when looking at the factors correlated by the Global Peace Initiative which include the number and duration of internal conflicts, number of jailed population on a comparative base and the levels of violent crimes and homicides. One of the biggest advances in the ranking for peace came in Portugal which was helped by stability returning to the country after a series of economic and political issues.

Spain and Cyprus both deteriorated marginally which effected the Eurozone total score but Ireland was still strong which helped counter the negative effects that Greece exudes in the region. Even France which had many publicized examples of extremist actions managed to stay a peaceful nation ranking high in Europe, faring better than Belgium where perceptions of criminality rose within the population and extremist groups gained some troubling advances in their society.

The United Kingdom and France face a reduction in their overall peace score due to the fact that their military spending and implications in external conflicts in other parts of the world tend to keep internal conflicts high especially as refugees and migrants spread across borders and bring the emotional and cultural baggage into new nations, sometimes with troubling results.

The safety rankings of a country are different from the peaceful rankings of a country. While both to a certain extent use indicators of the levels of safety and security within a country, such as the perception of criminality in society, the level of political instability and the rate of homicides and violent crimes, the rankings of peace tend to envelope more than just safety for visitors they peace rating reaches to all aspects of the nation, their political system and the living positive energy that is created and maintained by the population within the borders.

Evaluating a ranking system to gauge the most peaceful countries in the world is by no means an exact science nor is the ranking designed to be used as an absolute. Positive peace factors are used such as a country’s commitment and political determination to:  end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainable manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss, promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all and attempt to end violence and abuse.

The rankings of the most peaceful countries in the world should be taken as another piece of the puzzle when determining where to go for a vacation or to live or visit. Just because a country ranks high on the list of the most peaceful nations does not mean that nothing bad could happen to visitors but it can give a good idea as to the mind-set of the population of the country and the ideals that the citizens most try to adhere too.