The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) has released its latest Global Peace Index (GPI) report, ranking 163 independent states and territories around the world in order of peacefulness. The report covers three main areas: societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and militarisation. According to the report, peace has declined year-on-year for 12 of the last 16 years.
Click through this gallery to see the 10 countries the report ranked as the most dangerous on Earth...
Ranked the 10th least peaceful country in the world in the latest GPI, Mali has been politically insecure for a number of years, partly due to the presence of Islamist insurgents in the region. A spate of violent attacks and sieges throughout the latter half of 2023 and through 2024 have made the country increasingly volatile.
The British Foreign Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to the large majority of Mali, while the US State Department has its highest 'Do Not Travel' advisory in place for the entire landlocked country. Pictured here is an internally displaced persons’ camp in Bamako.
As a result of this unrest, three of Mali’s four UNESCO World Heritage Sites have been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger for most of the past decade, including the desert city of Timbuktu and the Old Towns of Djenné (pictured). Inhabited since 250 BC, nearly 2,000 of Djenné’s original mud-walled buildings have survived into modernity.
The conflict between Israel and Palestine is one of the longest-running in the world, and the recent conflict has sparked devastating ripples across the entire region and beyond. The FCDO currently advises against all travel to parts of Israel and Palestine, while the US State Department has a level three advisory in place, warning citizens to reconsider travel.
The 2024 Global Peace Index ranks Israel as the world’s most militarised country and the nation with the largest deterioration in peacefulness, falling 11 places from the 2023 report. Formerly popular destinations such as Eilat, with its seaside resorts, and Tel Aviv, with its Bauhaus architecture and urban beaches, have become no-go zones for tourists.
Syria has been repeatedly judged the world's least safe country in recent years, but moved back from third to eighth place in 2024. The nation's civil war made headlines around the world, and became a brutal proxy battle for regional powers that strangled the country’s economy. Syria's safety score has improved in the last year or so, while the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 could make matters better... or worse.
Before the civil war began in 2011, capital city Damascus and second city Aleppo (pictured here before the war) were frequented by tour groups roaming the bustling marketplaces, day-tripping to Roman ruins and exploring the culture of the country's ancient civilisations. Some estimates say that the brutal conflict has claimed more than 600,000 lives.
Follow our Facebook page for more travel news and inspiration
It should come as no surprise that Russia remains one of the least peaceful nations in 2024’s report, given its continuing full-scale invasion of Ukraine which began in February 2022. Both the FCDO and US State Department urge citizens not to travel to Russia under any circumstances, as far-reaching instability continues throughout the country and surrounding region.
According to the 2024 Global Peace Index report, Russia ranks third in terms of military capabilities next to the United States and China. The country’s war on Ukraine has resulted in more than 2,000 battle deaths almost every month since February 2022. Russia ranks as one of the world’s most militarised countries, behind only Israel, North Korea and the United States.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), especially eastern parts of the country, has been enmeshed in civil strife and violence for decades, increasing significantly from 2017 onwards. Recent events across multiple conflict zones have caused a humanitarian crisis, displacing at least 5.6 million people.
The GPI reports that, as of May 2024, the M23 rebel group has increased its control of North Kivu and is expanding its territory. Meanwhile, after 14 years of attempting to alleviate tensions in the country, the work of MONUSCO (the world's largest peacekeeping mission) was terminated by the DRC government.
The DRC is one of only three countries in the world where mountain gorillas can be found in the wild. But in 2018, Virunga National Park made the decision to close its doors after the murder of several rangers by poachers and militiamen and the kidnapping of two tourists.
Despite the ongoing threat of violence, many rangers continue to risk their lives to protect the gorillas. Although Virunga has since reopened, the US State Department has its highest 'Do Not Travel' advisory in place for the DRC.
Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine has devastated the country. More than three years on, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reports that more than 13,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the conflict. According to the GPI report, the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine were the main drivers in the world’s general deterioration in peacefulness through 2024.
Before the war, Ukraine's popularity as a tourist destination in Eastern Europe was growing. Most visitors would make for the country's historic capital Kyiv, with its grand plazas, domed cathedrals and monasteries. Pictured here is Sofia Square, with the gold-topped Saint Sophia Cathedral and a monument to Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, which has been covered in scaffolding to safeguard it from bombings.
After eight consecutive years listed as the most dangerous country in the world, Afghanistan has dropped a few spots this year. Though it remains the least peaceful country in the South Asia region, there were two notable improvements in 2024 – it is no longer the nation with the greatest terrorism impact, and its fatality rate from domestic conflict fell from over 18,000 in 2017 to less than 350 through 2023. In 2021 Afghanistan was recaptured by the Taliban, which brought an official end to war but brought many other problems.
Afghanistan has had a troubled recent past, enduring a Soviet occupation through the 1980s and a half-century of near-continuous Islamist terrorism and internal conflict. There have been attempts to revive tourism, but the US State Department and the FCDO both advise against visiting for any reason. The country is home to the magnificent Friday Mosque in Herat (pictured), as well as stunning natural scenery.
The world’s newest country, South Sudan is sadly also one of its most dangerous. The nation declared independence from Sudan in 2011, but a civil war broke out just two years later. While peace deals have since been signed, armed conflict and human rights abuses continue. Rising from fourth to third place in the GPI’s least-peaceful ranking, South Sudan remains the least peaceful country in what the GPI defines as Sub-Saharan Africa.
A 2022 UN report into the conflict cited a host of human rights violations and recorded that 44,000 civilians were forcibly displaced and 173 killed between 11 February and 31 May 2022. South Sudan boasts a wealth of natural resources, and its capital city Juba (pictured) sits on the banks of the White Nile. Sadly, corruption has ensured that the civilian population sees little benefit.
The vastly deteriorating situation in Sudan saw the country rise from ninth least peaceful in 2023 to second least peaceful in 2024. The US State Department and FCDO currently advise against all travel due to ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the latter of which massacred up to 15,000 in West Darfur in 2023.
The biggest risks to civilians include terrorism, street crime, kidnapping and unrest, with more than 30 million people – half of them children – in need of humanitarian assistance. UNICEF calls the conflict "the world's largest humanitarian and child displacement crisis".
The country has a host of historical and natural marvels that are inevitably off limits to visitors. One of them is Meroë (pictured), a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the banks of the Nile home to ancient pyramids dated between 300 BC and AD 300. The surrounding Nubian Desert is home to mile upon mile of sandy wilderness, wandered by lonely ibex and Barbary sheep.
The Arab nation of Yemen has been in a state of civil war for many years, but 2024 marks its first appearance as the GPI’s least peaceful country. Yemen has dropped 24 places in the safety rankings since their inception, and is now embroiled in the Israel-Palestine conflict too.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, involving Houthi minority rebels battling the government regime, which was supported by a Saudi-led coalition. The most recent UN estimates suggested that 377,000 people had been killed in the war, as of the start of 2022.
The civil war has devastated the country’s resources, destroyed its political stability and international relations, and seen the humanitarian situation further decline over the past two years. Due to Houthi involvement in the Israel-Hamas war, foreign powers have increased military involvement in Yemen, and the UK and US advise their citizens against all travel to the country. Yemen is home to five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Old City of Sana’a (pictured).