Sweden Becoming Less Peaceful – Worst in the Nordics

Each year, the Institute for Economics & Peace measures the peacefulness of countries worldwide with its Global Peace Index (GPI), a metric that ranks nations based on extensive data on security, conflicts, and militarization. In this year’s measurement, Sweden falls further and doesn’t even make the top ten.

The recently released Global Peace Index for 2025 states that the world has become less peaceful compared to the previous survey — the average level of peace in the world declined by 0.36 percent. There are currently 59 state-level conflicts, the highest number since the end of World War II.

For Sweden, the results may come as a shock or simply confirm what many already suspect and experience in their daily lives. In this year’s GPI, Sweden is not even among the top ten most peaceful countries in the world but ends up far down at 35th place, dropping two positions.

The number one spot, as last year, goes to Iceland. The runner-up is also unchanged — Ireland. New Zealand takes third place, having climbed two spots. Russia is at the bottom.

After Iceland, the highest-ranking Nordic country is Denmark (8th), followed by Finland (10th) and Norway (32nd).

A European country that stands out significantly is France, which ranks 74th out of 163, despite moving up five places. The USA ranks even lower (128th).