Battling multiple terrorist groups, Turkey pays a heavy price, with the 2017 Global Peace Index finding that terrorism costs the country nearly $200 billion every year, putting it in 146th place out of 163 countries. Meanwhile, the index said: "The world slightly improved in peace last year, but has become less peaceful over the last decade." Iceland topped the list of countrie,s followed by New Zealand, Portugal, Austria, and Denmark, all of which rank highly in the 2016 Global Peace Index as well. The Global Peace Index is "produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), ranks 163 countries covering 99.7 percent of the world's population. The index gauges global peace using the three domains of the level of safety and security in society, the extent of domestic or international conflict, and the degree of militarization."

Source: The North Africa Journal June 23, 2017 21:00 UTC