Study says Syria 'most dangerous' while Iceland 'most peaceful' globally

Plagued by a civil war and rapid rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Syria has been named the most dangerous country in the world, according to a new research.

In 2008, Syria was listed as the 88th most peaceful country in a list comprising 162 nations. However, its position on the list has plunged over the last few years and most rapidly after 2011, when the civil war began, reported The Independent.

According to the Global Peace Index (GPI), part of the research unveiled by major think tank, Institute for Economics and Peace, countries in the Middle East and Africa occupied most of the last 10 positions on the list. Iraq followed Syria as the second-most dangerous country in the world, while Afghanistan secured the third spot. Somalia and Sudan were named as the sixth and seventh most dangerous country of the world and were followed by Pakistan and North Korea on the ninth and tenth slot, respectively.

Iceland, on the other hand, was named as the most peaceful country in the world, with a GPI score of 1.148, the lowest in the world. It has low level of militarisation and domestic and international conflict and has higher level of security and social stability.

Iceland is also one of the few countries in the world that has no standing army.

Denmark followed the nation closely on the second spot as the second most peaceful country in the world.

The analysis was based on 23 different metrics, including murder levels, perceptions of criminality, terrorism and military expenditure.

The findings constituted the ninth edition of the GPI rankings.