TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan ranked 42nd out of 163 countries in the 2026 Global Peace Index, down five places from last year.
The Institute for Economics and Peace’s newly released index listed Iceland as the most peaceful country for the 19th straight year, with Russia ranking last, per UDN. Meanwhile, China dropped 20 spots to 118th, while the US dipped six places to 134th.
The index evaluates countries based on 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators across three domains: societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and militarization. Each indicator is rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with lower scores indicating greater peace.
This year, the average level of global peacefulness declined by 0.7%. This marked the 15th time in the past 18 years that worldwide peace has deteriorated.
The top 10 countries globally were Iceland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, Singapore, Finland, and Japan. The bottom 10 were Russia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, Israel, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Mali.
In the Asia-Pacific region, New Zealand ranked first and second globally with a score of 1.343. Taiwan placed 9th in the region, down one spot from last year, with a score of 1.751.
Taiwan performed best in societal safety and security, ranking 25th with a score of 1.672. The top five in this category were Norway, Finland, Iceland, Japan, and Denmark.
In the ongoing domestic and international conflict category, Taiwan ranked 59th with a score of 1.805. The top performers were Iceland, Mauritius, Uruguay, New Zealand, and Singapore.
For militarization, Taiwan placed 75th with a score of 1.808. The top five were Iceland, Malaysia, Portugal, Bhutan, and Moldova.
