Kenya has been listed among the countries with a low Peace Index in the Global Peace Index 2025, published by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP).
Kenya is ranked number 127 out of 163 countries with a score of 2.392, behind neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda.
This is a low Peace Index and a drop from the last ranking by 1.
Tanzania was ranked as one of the countries with a medium peace index, with 1.965.
Rwanda is next among the countries in East Africa at position 91 with a score of 2.036.
Uganda also falls in the category of countries with a medium peace index at position 113 and a score of 2.217.
Iceland and Ireland have been listed as the most peaceful countries with a score of 1.095 and 1.260, respectively.
Other countries with very high peace index include New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland, Singapore, Portugal, Denmark, Japan, Szechia, Finland and Slovenia.
Following closely are Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at 3.323 and 3.292.
Other countries with very low Peace Index include Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, Israel, Myanmar, Mali, Burkina Faso, Somalia, North Korea and the Central African Republic.
Kenya & Worldwide Peace Index
The average level of country peacefulness deteriorated by 0.36 per cent in the 2025 Global Peace Index.
This is the sixth consecutive year that global peacefulness has deteriorated.
Similarly, the average country score on the GPI has also deteriorated for 13 of the past 17 years, and has not improved on average in any year since the 2013 GPI.
In the past year, 74 countries recorded an improvement, while 87 countries recorded a deterioration in peacefulness.
There are now 97 countries in the world that are less peaceful than they were at the inception of the index in 2008.
In the past year, peacefulness improved slightly on average on the Safety and Security domain but deteriorated on both the Ongoing Conflict and Militarisation domains.
Global Peace Index Indicators
Of the 23 GPI indicators, eight recorded an improvement, 13 recorded a deterioration, and two recorded no change over the past
year.
The largest deterioration was on external conflicts fought, while the biggest improvement was on the perceptions of criminality indicator.
There were four indicators with average deteriorations of over two per cent in the past year: external conflicts fought, deaths from internal conflict, military expenditure, and weapons imports.
There were 98 countries that were at least partially involved in some form of external conflict over the past five years, up from 59 in 2008.
In most cases, countries were offering support to an existing government against armed rebels or terrorist groups.
Military Expenditure
Military expenditure (% of GDP) recorded the second-largest yearly deterioration since the inception of the GPI.
Eighty-four countries increased their relative military expenditure, compared to just 50 where it decreased.
There were 17 countries with over 1,000 internal conflict deaths in 2024, the highest since 1999, and a further 18 countries that recorded over one hundred deaths in the last year.
Many European countries are increasing their military expenditure as a result of the war in Ukraine.
However, raw military expenditure is not the most pressing issue.
Europe is experiencing increasing social tensions and declining public trust in its institutions.
The reallocation of public funds from employment, healthcare and education towards defence heightens the risk of further exacerbating these tensions.
Europe’s real defence challenge lies in the absence of integration.
Despite collectively outmatching Russia, European forces are hindered by fragmentation.
Europe’s current military expenditure is almost four times that of Russia, but its combined military capacity is only one-third higher.
