These are the world's 10 most peaceful countries

According to the Global Peace Index only 10 countries are conflict free

There are only 10 countries in the world that are at peace, according to the Global Peace Index, the 10th annual edition which was published earlier this year.

With the rising of violence in the Middle East to the increase in terror attacks, there are only 10 countries in the world that can be considered entirely free from conflict, making 2016 less peaceful than the year before officially.



State of peace: PHOTO: Vision of Humanity

Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, Mauritius, Panam, Qatar, Switzerland, Uruguay and Vietnam are the only peaceful countries, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

The IEP's founder Steve Killelea said, "If we look at the world overall, it has become slightly less peaceful in the last 12 months.”



"But if we took the Middle East out of the index over the last decade – and last year – the world would have become more peaceful. It really highlights the impact the Middle East is having on the world," he told The Independent.

If we were to ignore the conditions of the Middle East over the last year, the world would be more peaceful. This highlights the impact of the region on the rest of the world.

The Global Peace index also shows that political instability has worsened in 39 countries in the last 12 months.

Iceland is named as the most peaceful country in the world, followed by Denmark, Austria, New Zealand and Portugal, the latter improving nine places, whereas, Syria is named the least peaceful country.

This article originally appeared on The Independent