Ghana has fallen to 55th place in the 2024 Global Peace Index (GPI), down from 51st in 2023 and significantly lower than its 40th position in 2022.
In the Sub-Saharan region, Ghana now ranks 4th, having dropped from its previous status as the second most peaceful country, trailing behind Mauritius, Madagascar, and Botswana.
The 18th edition of the Global Peace Index, compiled by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), evaluated 163 countries based on their levels of peacefulness, covering 99.7% of the global population.
As the country approaches its December 7 elections, ensuring a peaceful electoral process is vital for Ghana’s democratic stability, helping to prevent localized conflicts and address emerging security threats.
The GPI employs 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators to assess peace across three primary domains: Societal Safety and Security, Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict, and Militarization.
The report highlighted that on the African continent, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains the least peaceful, with four of the ten least peaceful countries globally, including the two most violent—Sudan and Yemen.
The report noted a decline in global peace over the past 17 years, marked by significant increases in political instability, the number of conflicts, conflict-related deaths, and violent protests.
However, this rise in global violence has coincided with a stronger commitment to UN peacekeeping operations, which showed the most notable improvement among all GPI indicators.
