UAE ranks 61 in global peace index

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was on Wednesday ranked 61 on a Global Peace Index, making it less peaceful than countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Malawi.

The index, compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace, puts the UAE 61st out of 163 countries in its latest rankings.

Last year, the UAE was ranked 49th, down from 40th the previous year.

Experts agreed that the drop could be attributed to increasing conflict in the region, such as in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

The world is becoming a more dangerous place and there are now just 10 countries which can be considered completely free from conflict, according to authors of the 10th annual Global Peace Index.

The worsening conflict in the Middle East, the lack of a solution to the refugee crisis and an increase in deaths from major terrorist incidents have all contributed to the world being less peaceful in 2016 than it was in 2015.

The index shows that 81 countries became more peaceful in the past year, while the situation deteriorated in 79.

IEP is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit think tank headquartered in Australia.

The GPI is composed of 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators from highly respected sources and gauges global peace using three broad themes: the level of safety and security in society, the extent of domestic or international conflict and the degree of militarisation.